Imagos Star: Legacy of Kings
by M.D2ne
Summary: G1: How can one female Transformer change the future to come? Femme fatale Starscream proves that point!
1. Introduction

**Imagos Star: The Legacy of Kings**

Disclaimer: Transformers are Hastak© I don't own any of them, other than my own OC if there are any appearing in the future.

**Introduction: Wash, Rinse, Repeat**

A/N: I only found out what AU means a few weeks ago, but hello! Welcome to the intro of this fanfic. It's based off an idea from a previous fanfic, but for the newcomers (and a personal challenge for myself), you don't have to read the previous fanfic to find out anything, 'cause this one will explain all…I hope XP Oh, and just for a pre-emptive warning, if there are any weird, weird ideas that you'll come across soon, I'll try my best to explain it, thanks ;) On with the story.

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Gazing upon the scene one might think that the sky, in all its cosmic fury, rained comets in direct protest of the edifice towering over the jagged landscape. Now, all the structure could do was succumb to the carnage at its base, Transformers teeming inside its anatomy like metallic ants. It sluggishly bowed in defeat to the flames patterning it's broken surface, threatening to crumble carelessly on the unfortunate.

Such a pity then, that Megatron's plan has come to the unsurprising conclusion of failing again. The Autobot's did well.

And so did she. Yes, she. For too many vorns had she obediently stayed in the guise of some capricious mech, waiting patiently for some philosophical revolution in the history of Decepticon females. But alas, the wait was futile, when some brown nosing cassette-deck was too…how shall we say, 'curious'. Okay, she hated Soundwave. But it's hard to like someone so fiercely loyal to Megatron, and so possessive of his own rank as the Decepticon's (only) communications officer. After all that masquerading, the tape deck managed to convince their leader she had something to hide. The veil was off, the wires were parted…

…And Starscream was reborn again. Okay, not _really_. So Starscream was female. Another ambitious femme con out to make a name in the big world for herself, just like many other starry-eyed innocents. What _else_ can she do? Firstly, she is the only female legally authorised to join the Decepticon army. Starscream even kept her prestigious rank as the Decepticon's finest second-in-command, and despite the gender ratio, the red seeker didn't mind being the only optic candy available on Earth. Surrounded by lonesome males missing their mates, their partners or just missing the opposite circuit boards, she tolerated their wandering optics in exchange for their reverence. Love her, hate her, ogle her as they might, they wanted her, they _needed_ her. Talented, sophisticated and ravishingly beautiful, if her comrades didn't favour her before, at least they can continue doing so with someone even better to look at now.

Megatron had to have the lion's share because he is their leader, and all who didn't serve him instantaneously chose death. Starscream wanted the Decepticon leadership and she would do anything to get what she wants, even if it came with a free grey Decepticon. There's another surprise. Optics rolled, shoulders raised, palms opened, Starscream no doubt became Megatron's partner, and willingly took her as his intimate punching bag, as opposed to the regular, snivelling, punching bag. But wait! What would a romantic drama be without a love triangle? If Decepticons weren't dysfunctional enough, which short sighted fool would be brave enough to shoot himself in the head to prove his love?

Thundercracker. Always known to let his mind wander, admiring the greener grass on the other side of the hill. The events that were to conspire were next to predictable. Megatron got his way, Starscream naturally disagreed with his opinions and the duo had a falling out. It's not the first time the Decepticon troops have witnessed and unwillingly participated in their personal squabbles. It was different now. Starscream had to go beyond physical injury to harm the silver Transformer with more petty underhanded methods if she must. Twenty-eight months to collect the energon needed to fuel Megatron's plans. Two months of planning the construction of his latest death machine, and an extra twelve days to construct his latest weapon in strict confidentiality.

Four and a half days to bring ruin to Megatron's affairs. So it wasn't any different, but Starscream didn't mind either way. The sight was almost breathtaking. Standing at an appropriate distance, the Decepticon female raised her head to the sky and broke into hysterics at the glorious scene playing in her optics, watching the ash flutter aimlessly in the heat of decadence.

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A/N: Yes, Starscream is _the_ queen! XD Jes' kidding! Gonna maybe rethink the title and/or clean it up ;)


	2. Chapter 1: Seven Days Ago

**Chapter 1: Seven Days Ago…**

A/N: Ah, thank you for your reviews and for the regulars, welcome back :D If you see any typos and grammatical errors that are an eyesore (they all are), please message me, so I can remove it, thank you very much!

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What started out as a casual stroll became a purposeful march down the hallways, tromping the metal floor with the soles of his feet to elevate his boredom. If only his wingmates weren't so self-absorbed did Skywarp believe he wouldn't have to resort to childish pranks, like stomping the floor in a clumsy tune. Carrying a hyperactive circuit board filled to capacity with the latest pranks, gave little excitement if there were no victims to try them on. Just some astroseconds ago did Frenzy had a good taste of the old Skywarp classic, involving an 'accidental' misstep, a heavy armful of miscellany, and a very long flight of stairs. 'Course, there were consequences, and the purple seeker jetted to the skies as soon as the tape deck returned. However, the unmoving fact remains: Starscream was once again exiled from the Decepticon army for another case of insubordination and Thundercracker…

…Skywarp quietly bowed his head in silence. As soon as the blue seeker's body shell was retrieved, the Decepticon warrior pleaded for Thundercracker's immediate reconstruction. His wingmate would be brought back to life, but his mind won't remember the innumerable vorns they spent as comrades-in-arms. In a sense, Thundercracker wouldn't be the same anymore, but Skywarp found some bittersweet relief that he would be alive again. Plus, Megatron needed experienced troops without the emotional baggage, and the blue jet's battle experience would still remain intact. All that was left now is to teach his soon-to-be reborn friend how to drink energon through his nose; not that he had that kind of talent before, but Skywarp would like to convince him otherwise. The purple jet felt a goofy smile run across his face and quickly shooed it away when the doors shucked open, allowing him entrance to the next room.

"Hey Constructigeeks, howzits?" his sociable greeting earned the seeker five pairs of unwelcomed glares. It was not advisable to throw a crude comment at the same gestalt team that was rebuilding his friend, but after frequent visits, the Constructicons grew accustomed to Skywarp's growing immaturity. Circling around a three dimensional blueprint of Megatron's latest planetary weapon caught the jet's attention with a heavy sigh. "Primus, not **this** again…is Megatron _really_ gonna go through wid' it?"

"Do you doubt our leader's plans?" Scrapper questioned Skywarp. "Why do you think Megatron's been stringent this year about energon rations?"

"Upgrading that useless monument into a cannon tower saved us a lot of time with less Autobot interference on Cybertron." Hook added to the conversation with his accentuated pomposity. "We could get rid of the those human lovers and that stupid planet they're protecting before they can even blink an optic. Do _you_ have any better ideas?"

Skywarp pulled a wrinkled face towards the Constructicon's second. "Hey, I like the super-giant-Earth-destroying-bazooka idea, but it takes up so much fuel for just one shot! With all that energon, we might as well dig a giant pit for the ener-goodies, dunk the Autobot's inside and take a shot!"

"(Heh), so you wanna _gorge_ them to death, is that it braniac?" Bonecrusher retorted.

"Maybe if you suggest that to Megatron…(um)…" everyone stared at Scavenger trailing his unwanted contribution to a stop, before turning back to the seeker. Mixmaster had to curb his irregular cackling to elevate Skywarp from his ignorance on the whole master plan. "Eh-heh-ha-ha-! You don't un-un-understand, Sky_warp!_ We wouldn't do this without a goo-goo-GOOD REASON!"

"What Mixy's tryin' ta' say is, we've got this energy savin' nick nack, y'see?" Long Haul interrupted. "It collects energy from Earth, right? Then, using our energy supply and the energon borrowed from Earth, we'd blast that ugly mud ball inta' smithereens, and that's not all. The device doesn't stop collectin' energy until Earth's nothing but itty-bitty space dust (and it ain't in my job description to clean _that_ up-)"

"So," the seeker clarified. "It draws power from Earth, and it won't stop until that useless planet don't exist?"

"Exactly," the gestalt team answered in unison.

"...That's cool I guess."

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The ex-Decepticon aerial commander blinked her optics online, to find the infinite darkness staring back at her. Until the Autobots rescued her, the last thing she remembered was being a broken, rotting, near-to-death carcass in an old Decepticon cell on Cybertron.

'_Great…just great. They broke me out of one prison to put me in their own…that's Autobot logic for you._'

The weakly femme con tried to lift her heavy arms, but to little effect. Wresting her other limbs free proved to be equally futile, and the seeker concluded that her body was being magnetised to a flat surface. Until she could collect her fragmented senses, Starscream wrung her wrists and swayed her feet in a feeble manner.

'…_This isn't a prison, and this isn't the floor…I'm lying down, face up…my mouth is open. I'm drooling. Great…Wait…this is a recharge bed…I-…I must be in-_' she took note of the energon cuffs snaked around her limbs, but something else caught her attention. Spotting a ghost white Transformer working at his desk, Starscream squinted to recognise his back.

'…_Who the slag are you-_' the pale Transformer stood up as if to answer her mental question. Turning around, Ratchet looked down on the red seeker, sluggishly rousing her system out of a timely recharge. "Rise and shine, missy. Feeling woozy? That's because you don't have enough energon in your circuits, and we need your expert advice on Megatron's big bad plan-of-the-week, as soon as you're ready...in three hours."

Starscream swore back intelligently.

"Wuhgurgurhh…" she stopped ululating. '_Damn…I showed him…_' No one was safe from Starscream's unlimited sarcasm, not even her own self.

"Count your lucky stars, 'cause if Jazz didn't break you out of that prison…" Ratchet trailed off. If she could recall, the Autobot medic wasn't so mild in tone of speech, even to his fellow Autobots. Not that he had the chance to make it as a Decepticon just because he _sounded_ rough, but he looked visibly concerned. Ratchet raised a finger to click her jaw shut, and halt it from slobbering freely.

"Do you know the percentage of your energon levels when you arrived in the med bay? Not even a double digit," he checked her restraints. "Fortunately, you're now at…" he wandered alongside the perimeter of her bed, "…nineteen percent. Huh."

'_Is that supposed to be funny to you-_' Ratchet's gruff voice brought her back to his presence. "I can't give you a large amount of energon or you'll be intoxicated, but the previous dose should have raised your energon levels to it's thirties."

'…_Why are you telling me this, you…?_' the Autobot medic spoke again to stop her train of thought, and she frowned. Either his professional instincts were unbelievably acute or Ratchet was a modest psychic.

"Starscream, if you weren't holding a hostage right now, you wouldn't be in the med bay, you'd be in prison." Ratchet told her flatly. "I don't know how you got yourself into this much trouble, but…" the seeker's optics watched the medic place an I.V. drip next to her berth. "…You'd better make sure you know what you're doing."

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Cybertron, a planet inhabited by innumerable robot life forms littered across its jagged surface, coming in all shapes, sizes, manners…and Breakdown, drowning in his own paranoia. His shifty optics ran along the individual cracks crawling along the surface, suspecting anything that hinted its presence, alive or otherwise. A strained ticking sound grew from the Lamborghini's fingers, strangling the handle of his own gun. The giant infrastructure was capable of housing (too) many Decepticons…so how did **he** manage to wind up scuffling around its elongated halls alone? No, this was a bad sign to Breakdown; if he had to choose between a room full of curious strangers, or the solitary space suffocating his vocalisers here and now, Breakdown would have done his name's sake.

_Rrrrrmmm…_

"_Who'sthereIknowyou'retherecomeout!_" he took a one-eighty turn to point his gun at nothing. Scouting the darkness feverishly, Breakdown felt awkwardly relieved that there was someone else with him, but _like_ him? Any Decepticon will know that most non-military vehicles were land based Autobots. Another fierce rev of its engines summarised the paranoid Decepticon's logic circuits. A customised Martini Porsche 315 Turbo, but Breakdown didn't care about that right now.

"Hey man, cool your turbochargers," a small twitch developed on the Decepticon's optics when a pair of white arms flashed across the shadows. "All that glitchin' in your nerve receptors' makin' you itch. You outta listen to somethin' light and easy."

A snow coloured chassis with a glaring number met the Decepticon's line of vision. Breakdown HATED visored Transformers; he didn't know exactly where they were looking at, and the Porshe's look of confident indifference fuelled his neurosis.

"Go get 'em 'Raj!" Jazz pointed behind Breakdown. The nervous Stunticon deftly whirled around to fire bullets into empty space, before turning back to connect his face with Jazz's knuckles. Having watched the saboteur execute his attack with stylish accuracy, the Ligier allowed himself to be seen, as the golden lines drew out his presence.

"Jazzy bot one, Stuntaconked, one. And a one, and a two, and a thank you for listenin' to Jazz's number one hit!" Jazz sung into his communicator. A fizzled growl died down to allow the speaker a chance to reply.

"Good job Jazz, we've already reached the secondary generator. Get ready for counter-measures in three breems!"

"Copy that," Mirage replied. Jazz clicked his radio back and grinned wider on hearing Mirage's complaint. "That was supposed to be **my** punch Jazz, you know I'm here!"

"Sorry bot, but we've gotta mission to do, and there's no time to waste!" the duo ran down the corridors.

"(Show off)," Mirage purposely mumbled loud enough for Jazz to hear, and they both exchanged grins.

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A/N: I was thinking to write more words into each chapter, that way I can compose each story without too much gobbledegook ;) Tho' proof reading just got more difficult for my feeble little biscuit mind!


	3. Chapter 2: Doohickey 41

**Chapter 2: Doohickey-41**

A pair of wine coloured optics silently watched the resurrected Transformer lying in blissful recharge. Basking in the halcyon ambience of the medical bay, Skywarp admired the undisturbed look of peace playing on the blue seekers face, bearing a haunting similarity to the one he wore astroseconds before he passed on. Seventy one percent more and the blue seeker will be fully operational and ready for battle. Skywarp's optics spontaneously danced with his thoughts juggling in his mind. Should he tell him? A Decepticon's memories were erased for specific purposes, and Megatron had witnessed enough acts of repeated treachery. The Decepticon warrior grumbled incoherently to himself. If Starscream did not contribute her generous share of boundless disloyalty, maybe Thundercracker could be granted a second life with his memories intact. Even if his spark did not fizzle away in defeat, Thundercracker's memories were an empty bowl, and it was up to Skywarp to fill it.

"Hey."

Skywarp looked down to find Thundercracker's optics glowing back at him. '_Hey TC, ol' buddy, ol' pal, how'yre doin'? You still owe me two cubes of high-grade energon, remember? Yeah, you SAY you don't..._'

"…Hi." Skywarp returned with an impassive grunt. '_'Time for the routine reminders_,' he thought. "…'Know who you are?"

"Yeah." Thundercracker's answer did not change Skywarp's waiting look. "The name's Thundercracker."

"I know, TC."

A whispery huff escaped the tired seeker's lips. "So…that's my nickname around here?"

"Pretty much." Skywarp wings shrugged lightly with his shoulders. Thundercracker seemed contemplative now, and it was obvious why; Skywarp's personal idea about his being and the basic data fed into Thundercracker's new cerebral board, told him he was not alive for the first time.

"…I've been reconstructed? Well…" a flash of doubt ran across the purple Decepticon's visage, but Thundercracker was relatively perceptive despite his fatigue. "…I guess I can't really ask why. But-"

"You slagged yourself." Skywarp blurted. "You shot yourself in the face, 'cause you're a stupid slag head who thinks with your aft. Also, you tried to betray 'Big Boots Boss and his Mighty Cannon', but you don't know that…yet."

The transparent insults didn't provoke Thundercracker, but his purple counterpart was holding a cautious manner of speech, picking at the blue jet's curiosity. He wanted to know: was it part of Skywarp's nature, or an odd routine granted by his superior's orders. "So…you're telling me this because…."

'_Ah, slag. I've already said enough. Who cares,_' Skywarp sighed inwardly. "Because I used to be your best bud, okay? Y'know, like a friend-"

"I know what a friend is…" Thundercracker interjected, testing his newfound friendship at the same time. "…Slag head."

The blue seeker's legs took a mind of its own when they fell away from the vertical Decepticon. An unsuspecting swipe from Skywarp grazed the blue jet's leg, but they both shared the same sentiment with a grin. "…Can I know why I betrayed our leader…Megatron?"

A black hand curled its digits into a tight fist, save for the smallest finger teasing the air in front of Thundercracker's nose. The physical gesture was completely alien to the blue F-15, but Skywarp's answer was old news to many other Decepticons. "A femme con."

'_A female? Why is it always a female-_' Thundercracker ran through his thoughts, turning towards his shoulder for some kind of answer. Why would he foul his sensors with such irrational stupidity? Was this the exclusive reason he had for forfeiting his previous life? Maybe the answer was as plain as day.

"…Is she pretty?"

"Oh 'con she's as hot as the smelting pools and as fine as that bitter-sweet-sour kinda high grade, y'know, her legs are so fiiiiiine-" Thundercracker studied Skywarp's overexcited state of arousal and came to a fitting conclusion. "Oh. 'Kay." The blue seeker's optics started turning a darker shade before they powered down, leaving Skywarp to rant to himself.

"And then when she, hey-" the purple seeker became somewhat dejected at the sight of his sleeping friend. Time was of necessary importance to those who were working their self-repair systems, and a mildly tolerant wait to their superiors. Running the external scanners over the blue seeker's supine chassis, Skywarp bobbed his head in an accepting nod to Thundercracker's steady process. He could already feel his circuitry shaking in hopeful anticipation to his wingmate's fully operational status.

After the solitary conversation, Skywarp took his chance at getting lost within the dreary hallways…not like he could, having circulated the cannon tower for the umpteenth time with a photographic memory. Expecting a mounted assault by the Autobots in the near future, commanding officers were instructed to keep their troops ready for battle, and the reaction between each soldier ranged from blind enthusiasm, antsy trepidation or placid absent mindedness. Skywarp fell into the third category, with past experiences deliberately guiding his systems to suit his needs. The waiting game soon became obsolete in his cerebral circuits, knowing in advance that their leader's strategy was pre-planned, intricately sown with tactics, counterattacks, substitutes, back-ups plans and the odd macguffin. Just in case.

An air vent mischievously exhaled on the jet's helmet, reminding him not to shirk his duties, but Skywarp's natural impulses pricked him into watchfulness at the minute changes in the towers brusque ventilation. His concern was hastily answered by a roaring vibration shuddering through the hallways, throwing his equilibrium to the walls.

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Fantastic. That word singularly summarised Megatron's current mood at the Autobot's predictability. His calculations almost bore a near resemblance to that of the ocular Shockwave, minus the cultivated lack of personality. Maroon coloured optics hawked-eyed the darting circles on the screen, indicating the expendable troops on either faction. '_Gullible Autobots, disregarding their own lives for some organic planet and its sweaty inhabitants_. _Ah, just perfect_'. Megatron's favourite vorn rival has made his presence on Cybertron. None had lasted as long as Optimus Prime, and for a good reason: he was almost like Megatron. _Almost_. The next monitor followed the leader of the Autobots himself, gallantly commandeering his herd of pacifists and idealists into the killing fray, posed over a jagged mound on the parched landscape, in all his irritating 'magnificence'. Peace-loving as he was, the Matrix bearer was direct in orders and action, forwarding his troops to their well served, premature deaths as far as Megatron knew. The tyrant wanted to see the look on Optimus Prime's face when he opened the p.a. microphone to remind him that all his efforts are pitiably futile.

"Prime!" he growled into the receiver. The latter responded to his name, and checked the surveillance camera stoically placed in the hallway. Prime quickly gesticulated to his soldiers to advance without him…a minimal threat to the grey Decepticon.

"What do you want Megatron? I've got to admit, this fortress is pretty big and I like a good challenge, but I'm already in." Megatron pulled a face. '_Was he _always_ this confident?_'

"Oh, don't worry Prime," the tyrant crooned over the speaker. "That's only the beginning…this fortress was built to deal with your Autobot rats and their cowardly sneak-ins."

"Isn't it because it's filled with snakes like you? Look, Megatron, I'm only going to say this once: stop your attack on Earth, 'cause you're not going to win!" The speaker heard a hoarse cackle echo along the hallways, mingling with the conflict outside. "Not going to win-! Not going to WIN! That was the best joke I've heard in vorns, Prime! Bravo, bravo! Unless you plan to disassemble my cannon tower piece by piece and take on the whole Decepticon army, I'll give you an astrosecond, just to say goodbye to your precious Earth and it's insects!"

"Well…" Prime stole his optics away from the camera for an astrosecond, and started counting fingers. "You _have_ this near-to impenetrable fortress, which must have taken…months to build? All that construction must have expended your **stolen** share of energon, and gigantic, planet-destroying cannons do take up phenomenal amounts of energon…"

"You state the obvious, but go on," Megatron's voice took a cautiously sardonic turn.

"Knowing the mastermind behind this plan, that cannon must also be able to collect fuel to make up for its losses, like an energy vampire...much like you, Megatron**.** After extensive research, our Autobot scientists have given me an idea that you must be housing a very incomprehensible, scientific device…or as I'd like to call it, 'The Doohickey', powering this monument of mass destruction…" Megatron hated his current level of immaturity. For some deep-seated reason, the Decepticon leader didn't want to hear his rival's punch line.

"…I don't think you'd do the obvious and place it in the heart of this cannon. So we asked a certain femme con for directions to the cannon's main computer, and she was very helpful."

Megatron officially declared that he hated Starscream from the bottom of his cannon barrel.

"Face it, Megatron. We know where the cannon's main computer lies, and without it, this tower's as deadly as a stick in the mud. I guess you being here on Cybertron's just for show. Great minds think alike."

"Save your heroic speech for somebody else!" He slammed an angry fist to end the conversation, watching the truck drive to his fellow Autobots. The tyrant quietly agreed to himself that Starscream should be rebuilt into a human waste collector.

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"**RUUUH! MENASOR, **_**CRUSH!**_"

"**BRUTICUS, **_**DESTROY!**_"

"HULK, SMASH!**"**

"DIALOGUE, **ORIGINAL!**"

"Air Raid, Sling Shot! Prime sent us on a mission, quit fooling around!"

"Geez, 'Silvy'…we were only joking."

"Yeah, don't get your thrusters in a twist!"

"That doesn't matter right now…we have to destroy that machine!"

"Protectobots, it's either them, or us and this planet too, so if we don't do our job, ka-BLAM! Bye-bye Earth!"

"(And us-)"

"Aerialbots, form Superion!"

"C'mon Protectobots, it's time to shine and merge into: Defensor!

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Skywarp had never felt so naked without his trine.

Three astroseconds ago, he was breathing lazily through his olfactory sensors, when in less than a sniffle came the full-scale assault that literally swayed the whole base into alarm. Skywarp pondered for a nanoclick concerning his uncanny powers to attract undesirable chaos, but had his thoughts interrupted when a blind shot flew past his helmet. Spinning around to face his adversary, the Decepticon jet would have pointed and jeered if the, red-steeled, pint sized minibot wasn't carrying a missile launcher bigger than himself, and wielded it with the deftness of ease. Cliffjumper replied to Skywarp's jaw-dropping exclamation with a devious smile, and started chasing the seeker twice his size through the purple labyrinth.

Losing the mini menace in a riot of Transformers, Skywarp regretted having wasted his energy on teleporting pranks with the triple changers, and closeted himself into the nearest room he could find. If Starscream was available in the Decepticon army, she would have cautioned him against using up his energy on childish tricks. Scanning the deserted med bay, Skywarp scrounged the room for anything that can overpower the launcher, apart from syringes, swabs, broken pieces of metal and an oversized probe. The minibot soon arrived, making a second entrance to the room with his cannon, and a small shriek escaped the seekers mouth, turning around…to grin from one audio receptor to another. A missile launcher BIGGER than that biscuit-'bot expelled a shot…which means it would take some time to recharge, and even if Cliffjumper did fire again, the bullet wouldn't be as powerful. Skywarp would have ample time to dodge that attack. It was perfect! Skywarp beamed with optimistic hope…

…Until a heat searing projectile flew by his face, caving the wall. And another. _And_ another.

"Aw, what wrong Deceptijerk? Feeling _small?_" Cliffjumper started inching closer to the seeker, clicking his knees with each passing nanosecond. Dabbing his digits on the warped wall, Skywarp felt the barrel sibilate along his chest to take a better aim at his head. "Look on the bright side Skywarp…_if_ you live after THESE shots, your Decepticreep friends don't hafta drag you ta' first aid!"

'_Primus Primus Primus this is it this is the end! Goodbye cruel Cyberpiece-a-slag why was I created in the first place-!_'

A reflection of memories started running through the seeker's mind. Starscream's shrieks, Megatron's bellowing, the inaudible mutterings from the rest of the Decepticon troops, he regretted not being able to put names to faces (he DID delete them from his memory banks out of disinterest). His mind ran in circles, reaching for the most familiar recollection of voices that haunted his circuits…Thundercracker. A soft whisper of his wing mate's words hummed through his head, of dying with the least regrets, and valiantly facing the end of their lives with open optics...just like he did himself. Skywarp peeped an optic online. It was his time… he was ready.

'(_I think…)._' Skywarp could see Thundercracker now...why was he not smiling? Skywarp's face turned sour, having his presumption of Thundercracker broken by the animosity radiating from his being…

…And a blue foot up Cliffjumper's tail pipe. Thundercracker wasted no time punching the minibot to the ground, locking the Autobot into stasis lock. Raising himself from an arced position, the blue seeker quickly caught a gladsome purple warrior jettisoning into his arms, and received a pair of puckering lips for his timely arrival.

"_PXXXHHH-!_ TC! _TC! __**TC!**_ YOU SAVED ME, 'CON, YOU **SAVED** YOUR **BESTEST** **BEST** BUD _EVER!_ I LOVE YA', 'CON, _I __**LOVE**__ YA'-!_"

Thundercracker also dropped the unwelcome slobber to the floor.

"OWWW! Dude, why'd you hafta' drop me? (Damn, it hurts, 'con…)"

"Forty-one percent," Thundercracker wiped away the lip marks plastering his helmet.

"Boogaboogawha…?"

"Forty-one percent until fully operational status." The blue jet joined his companion on the floor, but the purple jet took cue and caught the fatigued seeker, catching Thundercracker by the shoulders.

"…Ohhhh, yeah…hey, don't worry TC, you did a good job, (good job, 'con). Let's get outta here, I downloaded the emergency escape route." Skywarp helped his wing mate shuffle to the exit. "...You're a good friend…Skywarp?"

"It's 'Warp to you, TC, and for the info…I'm your **BEST **FRIEND**!**" Skywarp turned to judge Thundercracker's drooping expression.

"…Oh…..great."

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A/N: This fanfic is about Starscream, but I'd like to delve into other TF's for now ;) Rest assured, the rest of the chapters will be about Starscream :D I didn't know how long the Cybertronian wars lasted, so I presumed it went on for 9 million years. After doing some research, I found out that it DID last for 9 million years! Either I had a very good guess, or I (cough) forgot I ever knew XP But yeah, it lasted for 9 million years. Fun for everyone :\


	4. Chapter 3: Life in a Box

**Chapter 3: Life In A Box**

A/N: Starscream, YAY! XD I've been itching to write about her for too long! The word Imagos, is the 'acceptable other' term for Imago, but the latter is correct. Urgh, no matter how many words I write, it looks so short! (Obviously need to read more!)

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The guard's keen sensors scrutinised her in shared silence, unwavering assiduity pricked to attention by any movement made from the red jet. The seeker humbly cradled herself in one corner of the cell, lazily stroking her hand with a curious finger; a small motion that bought the larger jet's natural curiosity. Timid prisoners preferred to look invisible in their cells, tucking themselves as far as they could from their captors, but Starscream found any form of self-exposure to be an ego pacifier. Under these particular circumstances, maybe she wanted him to look at her. _Admire_ her even.

"Whatever you're planning Starscream, you're not getting out. So stop it."

Skyfire's authoritarian voice curtly roused the seeker out of her daydream and stopped fidgeting, as if it was the very reason behind his command. The Autobot's injunction was personally justified, having known Starscream for too long. Behind the tenebrous grey visage was an inexhaustible list of devious schemes and 'Plan B's', extending further than his own alternate mode. A rude stare from the Decepticon was in order, but she willingly submerged her interests elsewhere, admiring the jejune wall in front of her, looking flat and yellow as ever. This in turn irked Skyfire even more: why was she acting so…_modest?_

"(…This is the first time you've seen me in this mode…)" she muttered to no one, but her warden heard otherwise. "What?"

Starscream looked up at Skyfire's face, striped by the energy bars between them, and started rubbing her hand again. "It's the first time you've seen me in my real form (I mean)…"

"Oh _really?_ Well, with you Starscream, no one can tell what's your 'real' form," he shot her with a dose of his own rancour, but the red jet served him an equal sneer.

"Funny hearing this from a _turncoat_, Skyfire, and I meant as a FEMALE," Starscream snapped back, continuing to bat the verbal repertoire back and forth.

"You mean all kinds of things!"

"Why did I even **BOTHER!**" Shouting for them both, Starscream brought the heavy silence to blanket them once again. The duo let their wings do the out-staring for each other.

"(…Loopy female)."

"(Dull-plated stiffbot.)"

"Wait…" Skyfire snapped his head to sight the femme con resting her chin in her palm. "…why did you even bother _what?_"

"You're a scientist, right? So you should be smart. Figure THAT out, braniac." Taking the bittersweet satisfaction to throw in the last words to their petty bickering, Starscream pivoted her body to the wall and continued showering it with her interest. Something about her made Skyfire rethink his current opinion on the red jet, recollecting his view. The passive foetal position, her head profiled to a demurring angle, and the general reticent attitude she reserved for herself…like a nervous sparkling, filled with false bravado of her own confidence.

"Starscream, what would you do if I walked into your cell…" the femme con quickly cut his sentence into half. "**That'll** be _GREAT-_"

"-And hugged you?"

"(_-GREAT_ Primus of all that is _cute_ and _Auto__bot_…)" she felt a nauseating tingle run up her throat.

"…Or kissed you?" Skyfire pushed his luck, and a long silence waited with him for Starscream's reply.

"...(Slagging sexual harassment stupid dumb mechs only know how to think with their slagging cockpits asking for a surge so badly up _their-_)"

He saw it. Within her darting optics, he spotted an uneasy hesitation in her words, clumsily hiding her scattered emotions. Skyfire wanted to ask another question, and not knowing the meaning of limiting his queries, he did not hesitate even while she was scolding the general male populace under her breath.

"Starscream, do you…._LIKE_ me?"

"…Huh! You could say when we were explorers before the civil war….GO AWAY!" she fell to the floor and balled herself away from his general direction, but the valkyrie had ample time to watch for an answer from the seeker, mulling in her own thoughts. '_Great, now he knows too much! Once that big geek starts thinking he'll never stop until he gets all the answers, and HOW long am I going be stuck in this yellow bricked cage? I'll never be able to show my face again if anyone else knew!_'

Starscream gazed at the overcast shadow stretched along the wall, and drew her head into her chest. "…(Maybe)."

The Autobot wasn't satisfied with her answer. "What do you mean 'maybe'? It's either a yes or a no."

"When I met you for the first time, I…"

'…_I'm going to say it, Primus spare me-_' she bit her lip. "…I couldn't stop thinking about you."

The mech was not spared a second to think. "At first, I took it to be some small fancy for that cute aft of yours…" the Autobot valkyrie suddenly felt more aware of his surroundings and pressed his back to wall. "Then, when I saw you with that other female, I wanted to be where she was…next to you. It…pains me to see you, waiting for the right time to tell you who I _really_ was, but…when you look at me and smiled, I…"

"Starscream…" The aforementioned seeker looked up. "…I didn't know you felt this way. Is that why you joined the Decepticons? But…I-…you-…what do you-"

"…I just wanted you to hold me."

Gentle footsteps brought him to her side, and he kneeled down to receive her shaking body, pulling hers next to his. Skyfire held her tighter when he heard her hiccup, and she buried herself into his large frame. The white mech looked down to find her face warm and moist with tears. Soothing her with hushed whispers, Skyfire stroked her helmet to offer her a measure of comfort, but the seeker wanted more.

"(Skyfire…) I-…I know this is sudden to ask of you but…" she shuddered in his arms. "…will you…?"

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"Say Red, who was guardin' that two-faced femme, again?"

Red Alert immediately looked up to Inferno with a trepid face. "Skyfire. Why?"

The Countach followed the fire truck's finger pointing to the screen in front of them, catching a soft mewl from the speakers. The mechs stared dumbly at each other and back at the screen before their internal sirens went on full alarm, with Red Alert yanking the p.a. microphone and Inferno stomping out of the surveillance room. Shortly accompanied by Brawn, the two Transformers sprinted down the hallways until they met their designated valkyrie, gallantly face down in the cell with a missing seeker. Waking up to being rudely turned over, Skyfire looked up at his disgruntled allies to say this:

"(…She…she said she loved me…)"

Brawn swapped glances back at Inferno, and both Autobots turned with even angrier scowls at their dazed comrade. "…Ya' stupid frag head!"

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Taking to the free skies on Cybertron, the Decepticon female cackled to herself in recollection of her previous jailbreak. She was going to remember this for a _long_ time…

"Starscream, do you…._LIKE_ me?"

"…Huh! You could say when we were explorers before the civil war….GO AWAY!" she fell to the floor and balled herself away from his general direction. '_Great, now he knows too much! Once that big geek starts thinking he'll never stop until he gets all the answers, and HOW long am I going be stuck in this yellow bricked cage? I'll never be able to show my face again if anyone else knew!_

'…_Then again, keeping a secret for 20 million years isn't exactly comforting; it'll come out one day. 'Might as well get it over with…but that datapad lover will read into it, as always. 'Better serve up the best piece of romantic banality to kill his cerebral cells from processing any MORE ideas._'

"…(Maybe)."

In glaring anticipation of Skyfire's doubts, Starscream delivered her winning lines, with a feathery, over dramatisation of speech. "When I met you for the first time, I…"

'_I wanted to vomit._' Thankfully, Starscream was not talking to the clairvoyant Soundwave, and settled for something more pleasing to the audio receptors. "…I couldn't stop thinking about you."

'_If that little sycophantic line didn't stun his cerebral board into paralysis, the barrage of romanticised slag would and flood his head to the brim._'

"At first, I took it to be some small fancy for that cute aft of yours…Then, when I saw you with that other female, I…"

'_I wanted to dice, quarter and __**kill**__ that stupid two-byte bimbo latched onto your arm like some piece of low-grade slag, and B her remains until there isn't a sprinkle of ash left of her stinking hull! It didn't help when you _had_ to do the SMART thing and crash into a giant ICE CUBE! …Hmmmm, but you _do_ have a nice aft._' Starscream restrained her more undesirable tendencies as a Decepticon and continued the tirade.

"I wanted to be where she was…next to you. It…_pains_ me to see you, waiting for the right time to tell you who I was, but…when you look at me and smiled, I…" the femme con was about to shut off her audio receptors from listening to her own words when Skyfire spoke up.

"Starscream…" The aforementioned seeker felt somewhat relieved that he stopped her from regurgitating any more bathetic slag.

"…I didn't know you felt this way."

'…_What the-….is he-…is he for __**real?**_' Her jaw almost dislocated itself from her head, and Starscream had to shrink her circular optics back to normalcy. Stumbling onto Skyfire's mawkish sentiments, a devious smirk carved itself into the red jet's face. Pushing herself off the ground with both hands, she poised herself daintily and turned her head to her shoulder, wearing the most pure, saccharine expression she could muster.

"…I just wanted you to hold me." No words were needed to describe the lone tear rolling down her cheek. It took the Decepticon tremendous amounts of inner strength to not burst into fits of laughter, muffling a snort with the back of her hand. A stifled choke was produced from this effect, but it worked to her advantage when a melodious sound rang into her ears as the energon bars disappeared. Gentle footsteps brought him to her side, and he kneeled down to receive her shaking body, pulling hers next to his. Skyfire held her tighter when she choked again. '_Oh Primus this is slagging HILARIOUS! I mean-_'

"Oh, Skyfire!" Starscream cried and buried herself into his large frame. The conned mech pulled her back to check her maudlin face streaked with syrupy tears, and wiped them away with his thumb. He embraced her trembling figure again, duped by the fragility of a mere female who was trying not to break into an epidemic seizure of cachinnation. Should she do it? If she were, let's say, a few million years younger, Starscream's spark would flutter at the very notion of the idea. She might even hurdle herself into self-induced stasis lock. But fainting is for the weak, and Starscream was much more urbane and mature than her giggly counterparts. '_…Oh well, no harm trying!_'

"(Skyfire…) I-…I know this is sudden to ask of you but…will you…?"

It took Starscream a few seconds to perceive what was happening when Skyfire pressed his lips against hers. Her system tensed to the sensation running through her circuits, leaving her body to slump into his cradled arms. '_Oh, wow…didn't know Skyfire was so daring! Dashing even! Mmmm~…_'

Starscream at present pealed into howls of laughter when she recalled hitting Skyfire with a straight uppercut and stealing his gun from his sub-compartment to blast him unconscious. At that point she forgot what she had said to him, but the red seeker hoped that she could exploit his weakness in the near future. Swerving to avoid colliding with an extended roof pole, Starscream jetted to the nearest hiding place she knew on Cybertron. The disarray of both armies from the previous battle meant that the Autobots and the Decepticons are open for new recruits. Experienced soldiers are a plus, and the F-15 decided it was time to return to her rightful place as Megatron's second-in-command once again. But her latest stint with him (excluding her betrayal for the previous Thundercracker), did not win favour with the aspen tyrant.

'_I __**must**__ return. After all, I am THE Decepticon aerial commander!_' Starscream softened her landing in a deserted alleyway. '_Bucket head would want something for losing this monumental battle (no thanks to me) …Heh…Time to go 'fish' for presents…_'

The seeker checked her internal chronometer, listening to the disharmony playing behind closed doors. Starscream only had to wait an hour and a half for her first potential recruit.

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When the light shone onto her, she had to get out and start dancing. When people started clapping, she had to get back in. When it was noisy, she was going somewhere else. When it was quiet, she could recharge. When there was a new dance, she had to absorb the information force-fed into her memory circuits, and that included names and faces of important guests to remember. When she did wrong, they would twist her limbs at the joint. That was her life in a box. Literally.

She had no name, she had no identity. All she had was the alien concept of freedom and her shallow perceptions of life outside her box, catching snippets of information from whatever she could remember of the outside world. The haunting gaze of a certain seeker burnt into her own, as she stared blankly at the crowd. It was the same one she saw at every different venue, and she knew it. Starscream was magnificent. The red jet was bigger, stronger, and everyone knew her. Even a forced recluse such as she, knew Starscream was the epitome of greatness. No amount of entertainment skills could surpass her omnipotence. The seeker would perch in the near corner, undisturbed and unable to hide her magnificence, despite being cloaked by the dim lighting. 'Like a peacock taking shelter from the rain, with its tail folded. For a peacock, is a peacock', or something like that. But Starscream was looking at her. Her! A non-existent Transformer.

In comparison to the Decepticon jet, she was a dim bulb to the twin moons of Cybertron. Starscream was her idol, her sister, her mother, her creator. After meeting optic-to-optic for the first time with the aerial commander, she wanted nothing more. No disgraceful subjugation of her being could falter her dedication to be with Starscream, her ultimate desire. Starscream was not blind to her wordless wishes, because the way she looked at the female jet, was that of a lost puppy longing for its master.

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The hand that opened the box was blue like Starscream's. Her face was like Starscream's. Starscream came. Starscream came to save her. The unknown Transformer shed tears, but she never cried like this before. The situation was surreal. It was not painful or sad, but she wanted to cry. The reasons were too foreign to her. The jet opened her mouth to speak. She was talking to her! Starscream!

"What's your name, child?"

'_Name?_ …_Name?_' She kneeled in the four corners, dumbfounded. She never had a name. Maybe 'it' or 'that thing'. No, but that wasn't her name. Child?

"…Mother?" she quivered to herself, and Starscream narrowed her vision when she caught that stray whimper. '_No…oh no! Starscream's upset!_' "I-I'm sorry! I-!"

Starscream pouted at the Cassetticon cramped in the dull cube. Maybe she was mistaken after all. How would this small creature be able to make use of her abilities if she cannot even comprehend the facets of life? '_No,_' Starscream deduced. '_She's been in that stuffy box for too long, she just needs some decent exposure. That can be easily done.'_ Starscream checked the Cassetticon's previous owners, lying behind the seeker brutally unwired. '_Stupid dullards! Squashed in this box is a potential warrior, and they make her sing and dance like some mindless marionette! What a waste of talent…but the girl's got gumption._'

"So. You think I'm your mother, is that so?" the signature grin graced Starscream's cheeks. "All right, I'm your new creator. I'm Starscream."

"I know!" she jerked in the box. A pair of blue fingers nipped the Cassetticon by the nape and freed her from her confinement, placing her on a now box-less hand. The small Transformer stared at her previous home being rolled aside like useless garbage, and sat obediently waiting in Starscream's hand. A small pair of energon wings unconsciously grew out of the minute robot's back, and she flitted to a standing position in the seeker's hand.

"You have no name."

"No, mother." Starscream winced at the newfound sentiment. "Well, you put up a good light show. And that's what you'll be. Lightshow."

'_Lightshow?_' she hated light shows, and Starscream read the discontented look smeared on her face. "What, you don't like your new name? Fine then. Lightburst. Better?" Lightburst nodded in agreement, fluttering to sit by Starscream's helmet and greet her new foster parent with a soft embrace, but the seeker pinched her body again and gently settled the tiny Transformer to the floor.

"You're free," Starscream declared. "You may go wherever your wings take you."

Lightburst's expression changed drastically. '_But why?_'

"Go, before I change my mind. My creator was not as lenient, as for most of us."

Was Starscream telling her to leave by her own free will? The pink and white Cassetticon turned and took a few baby steps away from the jet. '_I'm free…? I'm free...Starscream says so. I-…she-…she let me…_'

Lightburst peeked back to find Starscream seemingly indifferent to her departure. A small pair of heels clicked its way back to the seeker, whose smirk grew wider with each step.

"I don't wanna go! I-!" Lightburst watched Starscream's unchanging visage. The jet was not offended at her raising her voice! "I wanna stay with you. I wanna stay-!"

"Okay," the red jet shrugged.

Lightburst floated to Starscream's face and held her cheek guard tightly. The seeker had to get used to it. Not everything's perfect, and this cassette needed to be integrated into her new lifestyle before Starscream can teach her the delicate finesse of violent combat. Judging the Cassetticon's temperament, such gushy expressions were not surprising and fairly tolerable, so Starscream could live with that. If Skywarp was a permanent member of her Decepticon trine, surely she could live with a little fondness from a Cassetticon. A stray finger stroked her new recruit's head, who responded with a delighted purr. Peering behind Starscream's shoulder to her late captors, Lightburst threw her bottom down to raise an innocent question.

"What happened to them?" she asked. Starscream rolled her head casually to her pace. "They are currently in 'permanent stasis lock'. For your freedom, my dear child."

Lightburst gazed at the darkness ahead of them before mimicking the seeker's previous motion. "…Okay!"

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A/N: Oh noes! An OC:D Hmmm, I think the description for my fanfic is misleading especially when I mentioned that Starscream is male; 'thinking of changing the chapter summary because it seems obscure and misleading, tho', I've already got an idea, suggestions are greatly appreciated ;) Thank you and congratulations for making it this far! XD


	5. Chapter 4: Safeword

**Chapter 4: Safeword**

A/N: There's a public holiday in my country, so I took some time off writing to sleep, so that would explain the delays. Other than that, the usual second, third and fourth proof reading takes time :P Thank you to those people who have this story on the favourites/alert list:) I've changed the summary, don't know whether it fits!

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He wouldn't say he was paranoid, not to Breakdown's extent at least. It had been three weeks now, and the tinge of social aversion had not left the Decepticon tyrant, haunting him from meetings to recharge cycles. A thorough examination confirmed the mechanical perfection of his anatomy and a mental scan revealed no psychosis. His communications officer commented on the benefits of a proper recharge cycle, and Megatron happily snubbed his suggestion. Living through countless vorns, the aspen Decepticon had never contracted ailments such as this, especially not from the lack of sleep anyway. It resembled the unwelcome forbearance of an assassin, coiled to strike when Megatron let his guard down, or the glazed optics of a dedicated spectator embraced by the crowd. A presence. An entity. It made him aware of its existence, but lacked a motive, an intention, a conscious will of its own.

So why? What for? To find other life forms, all Megatron had to do was tune his sensors to his surroundings. If anyone or anything so much as fluctuated his mood, the great Decepticon removed it with a wave of his hand. The arm with the mounted cannon would elucidate his point. But how do you get rid of something with no form, no tangible essence? What if it's not real? As the unnerving claustrophobia grew in size, so did his expression of indifference towards his troops. Solitude did not give Megatron the satisfaction of being alone. This feeling irked him. This faint 'feeling', and the general nature that surrounds this mystery…

…Was a **nuisance**.

He started drumming his digits on the armrest of his chair.

Maybe some outward portrayal of dissatisfaction towards this thing would cure him. A message. No. He would talk to himself to practise for an oration, but not to someone who was not present in person or on radio. Does he chase it away with a thought, or should he start questioning his sanity? Optic points drifted back to the three fingers, and they stopped.

It stopped. It was gone. The lingering presence plainly left as it came before. The grey tyrant quickly lost his sombre face to a curling smile, which darkened to a malicious grin. He couldn't be any happier. _Furiously_ happy.

"Hello Starscream."

Only two people had authorisation to enter his room, and after that last incident, Megatron still allowed the F-15 to move freely into his personal quarters, for the last time. A pair of sly, blue feet drew a curve from the shadows, and the rest of the Decepticon female curtained out of the darkness. Her alluring gait reminded Megatron of their personal trysts together, and Starscream flexed her open wings invitingly, placing her weight on one foot with a fist resting on her hips. The Decepticon leader preferred the seeker to be on all fours, begging to return to his side. Stupidly enough, Starscream can be painfully transparent, and to be beaming with pride meant she must have some superb trump card behind her wings. An acute tilt of her chin teasingly bared her neck to Megatron, beckoning him to come closer. All the tyrant could think of was wrapping his fingers around that neck to snap it like a twig, and tear her black head from her blocky shoulders.

When it comes to getting what he wanted, the grey tyrant's patience could be limitless. Starscream ignored the finger-shaped dents being squeezed into his armrest.

"So Starscream, are you ready to join the Decepticon army as _my_ second-in-command, or have you come to usurp the Decepticon leadership? Whatever the case is, my audio receptors are tired, so you can save the grovelling for later." Megatron cajoled a bitter chuckle from the female. "Ha, ha, Megatron darling, _very_ original. But I'm not here for that…no…"

Megatron shifted in his seat, bringing a blue digit to point at the air in warning. "Ah, ah, ah…I wouldn't move if _I_ were you…" she warned.

Four more pairs of red optics joined the room, hovering in anticipation with the sound of charged weaponry. Sauntering out of the cover of darkness, more Decepticon females circled the lone mech to bask underneath the same light. Megatron eyed the night-blue seeker behind his chair, and stoically reverted his gaze to the red femme con in front of him.

"I've always wanted a harem of females…" Megatron started counting the poised-to-be-insulted femme cons with each thrust of his finger. "Red, black, blue, purple, _blue_…Starscream, you disappoint me, again!"

"That's _not_ why we're here!" the red jet stomped her foot to quell any wandering ideas from the tyrant.

"If I have a yellow and green female, I would have the entire set." The armed females pointed their guns at the grey helmet in the centre of the room, leaving Megatron and Starscream to gaze 'lovingly' at each other.

"Collected another band of misfits, my little Starscream? Have you forgotten what happened to the Combaticons and their (heh), unwavering loyalty?"

"Which is why I've decided to cut to the chase," Starscream injected. The weaponry ceased their growling and followed their owners to the ground. All knees pointed towards Megatron were now respectfully touching the floor.

"All hail Megatron, leader of the Decepticons!" the females chanted, leaving Starscream reticent in recognition of his authority. "I present to you the finest female combatants of our beloved Cybertron. The liberation of one archaic rule will bring more talents to your side, Megatron...if you can grant me leeway, then _surely_ you can allow them to serve you to the best of their abilities."

Females were scarce in the Decepticon army for two reasons: because most were not built for military combat, and those who struggled to break free from domestic stereotypes, died in battle at the hands of other male Transformers. Exploiting the ideals of Decepticon femininity, Megatron ruled that no female shall enter the army, and in vorns to come, a certain animosity grew against the female populace who took to arms. At the end of Starscream's oration, a heavy quiescent atmosphere followed.

Megatron rasped. "The **finest**, you say? And I suppose you would want your old job back for these collectibles."

Nervous stares were traded with agitated scowls, passed back and forth between the femme cons to their commander, but Starscream remained adamantly quiet. '_Patience everyone, patience…he's only testing you-_'

"They must be as good as you say, since they passed your high standards." Megatron opened his comm. link. "Soundwave, we have some new recruits on board. Get someone to escort them to their new quarters." He snapped his arm shut, before arresting the red jet's attention. "Starscream shall stay here."

The Decepticon females looked back at their excluded commander who gave them a meaningful nod, and they blinked back to look at the dull floor below them. Standing by the opened door to escort the females out, Skywarp and Thundercracker could not keep their surprise to themselves. In his new life had Thundercracker not seen so many female Decepticons before, congregated around their leader and dangerously armed. Skywarp's fears were elevated when he peered at the red seeker, kneeling in submission. A friend would be happy to see their comrades return undamaged, but many Decepticons knew the grim consequences for defying the Decepticon leader, and Starscream's penchant for being notoriously treacherous. The red jet's gaze flickered to their newly rebuilt wingmate, scrutinising Starscream rather quizzically.

'_Hmm_…_nice…_' Thundercracker followed the length of Starscream's lithe feet to her hips, until the navy blue and white seeker passed him. '_…_'_REAL nice…_'

Megatron almost leapt from his chair when a small cassette ejected from Starscream's arm. Lightburst goggled at Megatron, staring at his gargantuan feet before she turned to her foster creator for a direct order.

"(Go child, follow them)." The small Cassetticon looked up at her mother's stoic expression, and let her hand slip from the blue arm, trotting away to join the other females. Delicate flecks of energon sprinkled the ground from Lightburst's wings, and the door glided shut, leaving the couple alone. Pacing leisurely down the halls, Skywarp and Thundercracker admired the females' shapely forms from behind, while other passing males greeted the females with glazed optics. The smallest of them clipped on her visors and facemask, prompting the rest to quicken their pace. Starscream's wingmates found their feet marching faster to keep up with their female counterparts, until the escorted group and mech seekers were dashing away from the spare quarters.

"H-Hey babes! Where're you goin'?" the largest of the females looked indifferently over her turret at the purple seeker. She did not know what a 'babe' was, but considering Skywarp's question, he probably referred to them. Some Earth slang of sorts would have to be acquired and understood at their leisure.

"We were told by Lady Starscream that you mechs would doubt our abilities. To test our mettle and prove our worth, we are going out to collect energon. We will return soon with a desirable amount."

"What Tanky said!" The purple female ahead of her grey comrade chirped in reply.

"_Tanky?_" Skywarp stopped galloping behind the femme cons heading towards the elevator. Small hands pressed the buttons to call for the lift, and the females entered the elevator quite orderly, despite their unforeseen actions. The same purple femme con popped her head from her teammates' limbs to meet the stupefied mechs.

"See ya' laterrrrr, boys!" the giggling stopped when the elevator carried the females to the surface.

"Wuh-?" Skywarp turned to his wingmate for an answer. Thundercracker scratched his cheek with his hand, waiting for Skywarp to absorb the femme con's words. His comrade was done when he clicked his hanging jaw shut. "…Well! 'S not like they can get enough energon in a place they don't know 'bout. Not as high as my head…females should stay where they belong!"

"And where's that?" Thundercracker raised an optic in the purple jet's direction. Skywarp thrust his arms out, as if to violently hug the air.

"On each a' my arms, duh!"

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"Megatron, the femme cons have escaped! …They, uh, gone out to get…energon?"

Megatron clipped his communication link shut and kept his gaze to the blank screen reflecting the seeker lingering at the back. The tips of her blue feet kissed each other, and her hands were chained together by each slender finger. It was no surprise that she would give the females a pre-planned command, on immediate acceptance into the Decepticon ranks. Casting them to a safe distance away from hostile troops prevented them from gaining any unwanted harm, at the same time (or on the pretext) of gathering favours from their leader. The grey Transformer prowled around the red seeker, waiting to steal the moment when her bravado would split and her cowardice flee to all corners of the room. Why was she grinning, and so widely too? At least he should stab an answer from her, before emptying her body of its spark. He smiled with her. It's nice to play her game when he was going to win anyway.

"…Do you, 'hear' that, my love?" she cooed. '_Tch. _LOVE_. What sentimental hogwash. Only an Autobot would voice this word so unsparingly_'. "Or…do you NOT, 'hear' that…?"

The presence. Now she had more than _one_ answer to give him, and he wanted them badly. Megatron pressed the palms of his hands onto her wings, until her back touched the wall. The darkness was not so enveloping after all, as there was no need to adjust his vision and catch the Cheshire grin plastered on her face. His chest scrapped against her cockpit, sparing little space between the two. "My dear Starscream, always causing trouble."

"And what would happen if I was gone?" she quipped. '_Everyone knows the answer to that_', he huffed, '_other than a celebration party._'

"Then I would have conquered the Autobots, and ruled Cybertron a _long_ time ago."

Starscream pretended to look hurt by his words. "And what if, when I am gone, you are too?"

"Only in form, never in name." The Decepticon leader was realistic, at least. He moved an arm to cup her chin, resting his cannon on her shoulder. "Get to the point, female."

Starscream felt a warm thumb stroke the contours of her face, eying it warily without betraying the smile on her countenance. "My, my, _your_ trigger finger's getting itchy."

"And why not, after all you've _done…_" he pinched her chin tighter. Megatron had never felt so much emotion stir in his spark before. It was easy for Starscream to do so, being an aggravating thorn in his side, starting with her wagging mouth.

"Let's say, millions…no, _billions_ of years later, will there be (anyone)…ANYONE, who will carry the principles of your greatness? Will they value it as much as we all do now, treasuring your morals in our cold, black sparks?"

A low growl was sufficient to goad the red jet to a conclusion. "Get. To. _The. __**POINT.**_"

"The legacy of your empire rests in my body, Megatron. A part of your essence resides in me, and it has been telling you: it's here, Megatron." Starscream's grin threatened to cut her face into half. "Vorns go by, and no female has been able to give you what you want, accomplish what _I_ have done. Who knows why, maybe their systems weren't compatible with yours. But mine has given you something you've long desired for. An **heir**, Megatron. _**Your**_ heir."

"…A spark…a growing spark…" he swallowed the air, but held his breath. "Wait," the caliginous leader narrowed his optics to sharp slits. "It's not mine, you lying _harlot-_"

"Say what you want, it has been calling out to its natural creator, and it's you, Megatron. It calls for YOU! Admit it! You felt it yourself! And if you _still_ don't believe me, you can cart my tailgate to the med bay for 'certain' confirmation. Consider yourself lucky, Megatron."

'_Luck…LUCK…?_' Megatron almost forgot what agonising pain he wanted Starscream to suffer, when a fine idea dawned upon him. So that was it. He _WAS_ lucky after all, and the Decepticon tyrant calmed his nerves to a fit and into a comfortable smile. It matched hers perfectly. He had to thank Starscream later, for not letting him forget his original intentions for her.

"Finished, my little Starscream?" he asked, and his aerial commander gave a firm nod. "Now I have a story to tell you. Let's see, where do I start…"

"I love stories," the red jet flexed her wings from being unpinned to the wall, leaving her leader to fold his arms behind his back as he crossed the room. "In my vorns as a gladiator, I fought all kinds of Transformers and subspecies alike; I remember this particular female I had battled once. She was much larger than most mechanisms, and her battle scars only covered her ankles. She didn't win through sheer stature alone, no…she had the finesse and grace of a dashing turbofox. Doubting her speed (or making any false presumptions about your enemies at ALL) was a fatal mistake, but, I crippled her and tore the female apart. A fun challenge."

"Riveting," Starscream added. Megatron stopped pacing and turned to look at the listener. "Life is full of surprises…"

"Yes indeedy, all mighty _Mega_tron." A bored expression slowly overcame the piquant seeker.

"…When I ripped her armour to the circuits, I found not one, but two, healthy bright lights, beating back at me. She was with child, but their sparks continued to flicker, even when she lost the means to stand upright and all six arms stopped functioning. Amazing, isn't it?"

A heavy trepidation started sinking into Starscream's systems when he ambled to her, and placed the femme con back to her original position on the wall. Her knees gave way, when a black hand arrested her neck and pressed her to the floor.

"…Today, there shall be no death at the hands of Megatron," he hissed in a dangerously low tone. "Only punishment, of the _greatest_ degree…"

"…What say you to that?"

"Well, if you didn't, I-...I-" Her optics fervently searched for some mercy in Megatron's own, but the anticipation of what was to come remained. A weak grin and a dry cackle managed to escape her lips. "I-…wouldn't see it, any other way. Perf-…pfh-…ah…splendid."

"Hey, Soundwave, come in Soundy! Tell our leader the girls are back from their shopping trip!"

"Skywarp, state the approximate amount of energon collected."

"Well, lesee, ehhhhh….woah. WOAH…WOOO_OOOOOOOOOAH…_"

"What 'Warp here meant to say was…it's three energon cubes from touching the ceiling. But don't congratulate them yet, 'cause they're not here."

"Where are they located."

"They said they'll stay somewhere else, and left us their contact number 'when we need their help'."

"…See? SEE? They belong, RIGHT here! In **MY'ARMS! **(And they can help themselves to ol' Skywarp too, eh-heh-heh)"

"…What?"

"My arms, 'con! My FRAGGIN' ARMS! …Hey, um, Soundwave? Is aaaah….is 'Screamer okay?"

"Hey bucket brain! I've got a joke fer ya'!"

"Get lost, Rumble! …Or Frenzy…(they all look the same-)"

"Whaddcha' call a stumpy limbed Decepticon?"

"I dunno, a seacon turtle, you geeky retard?"

"Nyope! But Starscream can show you what one looks like! Turtle soup down Med Bay Lane! HYAHAHAHA-!"

"(Slag…)"

* * *

A/N: On the subject of female Decepticons, I don't see enough females in the army, for many reasons I'm not bothered to talk about. Since the Decepticons are bad guys (from the 80's no less), of course they are sexist! Evil, EVIL Decepticons! Yarh! XD (Probably the simplest valid reason I offer to those who might find the idea offending). I don't hate women, I'm just showing the other side of the coin. There are people who hate women, and people who love them to bits, so everyone's got their own ideas. The G1 Transformers had a lot of strong, assertive women in the T.V. series, and I have to say they stand out more than the female Transformers today! Okay, except for the brainless one in 'The Girl Who Loved Powerglide'; I pity her for her lack of intelligence and being constantly slapped aside :P


	6. Chapter 5: A Sense Of Drollery

**Chapter 5: A Sense Of Drollery**

A/N: Even though this is rated for teens, I would like to mention that this chapter contains human swear words, and for any minors reading this: you're not supposed to! But if no one can stop you and my advice is ignored, don't waste your breath on these vulgarities in any attempt to look mature; it only encourages mothers around the world to wash your mouth with soap and feed you cod liver oil.

* * *

"_Megatron, why?" Starscream burst into the room, hot tears riveting down her cheeks. "Why don't you understand? I didn't expect it to happen! I mean, but-…that, that's not the point! The point is, it happened because of us, my lord! This spark is ours!"_

"_Us?..._US?_ There was no, "__**us**__" from the beginning, it was all about YOU Starscream! You and your petty little tricks!" The grey Transformer swiveled around to face his second-in-command, displeasing looks souring his rugged features. A dark finger stabbed the air in her direction, elucidating his barely manageable frustration. "You've betrayed me AND the empire time and time AGAIN! NEVER! I shall not have any more of this!" He activated his comm. link before the aerial commander could plead her case. "Soundwave! Bring this shecon to the prison cells and have her locked up for eternity, AND BEYOND!"_

"_No! NO MY LORD! NO PLEASE!"_

'_Please' was the last word she remembered, wailing for her life outside this dreadful confinement. Clutching her helmet, the red jet battled hard to stop her weeping, but the bitter tears continued to roll down her beautiful face; the same face that was being watched through the surveillance camera. Megatron could not cage this seeker as much as he could withhold his feelings for her, carrying the fiery passion that raged in his very spark. Starscream looked up when she recognised the clanging sounds from a pair of feet traveling towards her cell, and stood to have her body captured by a pair of strong arms. Megatron's inviting embrace was now occupied by the femme con, her head into his neck, her spark to his spark. Her frame settled down to a quiet shiver when he stroked her wings, and the pair floated in their own blissful silence. Megatron pressed the palm of his hand to her dimmed optics, admiring the last of her untainted innocence. Before he could comfort her with words about a better future to come, her blue fingers held his helmet and pressed her lips to his. Megatron's hunger only grew fiercer when he closed the space between their frames, and the two lost themselves in the euphoria that seized their circuits…_

_Pride and Decepticon Prejudices will be back after these messages. Do YOU feel down and rusty? Does your body lack it's luster and shine? Well worry no more, with Pansy-Sandzy Go-Away! Just apply two drops of our specialised formula and you'll feel as GOOD as **NEW!** -_

"What the ding-dang-doolio?" Skywarp changed the channel to avoid the onslaught of advertisements. Thundercracker's dumb stare continued to prevail after catching the new 'hot-and-happening' drama that was taking place on a planet not-so-far-from-Cybertron-but-not-so-near-either. His jaw managed to unhinge itself from his stupefied expression to make a commentary.

"…Who _made_ this crap?" he paused. The Decepticon behind him quickly passed her comment. "Should we tell Megatron of this new threat then?"

"I heard it was directed by an Autobot, or Autobot sympathiser (or something-)"

"The metal hunk that plays Megatron is **so** dreeeeeamy!"

"You mean Shadoweye?"

"I _**LOVE**_ _Shadoweye!_"

"If mommy's spark comes out, are they going to name it Starburst?"

"Yeah, way to go Tinkerbrain, Megatron's kid is gonna be a new breed of Transformers called the Confectionaricons."

"I think he's an exaggerated representation of our leader. He's one shade lighter and his features have been artificially enhanced-"

"It's a soap, they do that all the time-"

"Still, we have the real deal in our ship! And 'Screamer's legs are the hawttest, oh yeahhhhh…"

Thundercracker avoided the stray energon chips peppering Skywarp, and turned to look at the entire group of femme cons snugly perched on purple seeker's recharge bed.

"Why are all the girls here, and in SKYWARP'S room, of all places?" he eyed the purple femme con pelting his wingmate as a single pellet bounced off his helmet.

"What's wrong, Thundy? Do you want us in _your_ room instead?" the violet Decepticon female looked to her sister for approval to her teasing. Skywarp stopped eating the scattered food to look back at the females. "Nah, he just jealous-"

"_We're_ just here because you have cable. Don't miss us when get our own two thousand, six hundred and three trillion channels. All **legal**."

"Hey! Busty Femmes are legal too y'know!" he threw back a quick retort but the femme con's sister had her share of opinions. "So not! And your room's stinky!"

"I don't mind it...it just needs a little cleaning up, that's all…" the quiet femme mumbled to herself when the tank stood up.

"This two earth hours show makes me feel two earth hours older. Come sisters, we have our duties to attend to." Lightburst happily exited Skywarp's room, and the others followed suit. One of the twins had to shake off Skywarp's hands from her leg, before leaving the two seekers alone again.

"Did a bunch of femmes just barge into your room to watch 'tee-vee'?" the light blue seeker pointed at the shushing door.

"Like a dream come true, bruv'," Skywarp folded his arms behind his head with a happy grin. "'Catch their names?"

"I know the seeker with the navy blue paint is called Midnight…" Thundercracker gestured to the empty corner of Skywarp's recharge berth.

"Quiet shy cutie," Skywarp mentioned. "I know tank girl's called…well, Tank Girl-"

"Tanky for short. The automobile twins that were sitting there…the blue one's Rev and the purple one's 'Celerate-"

"One for TC an' one for 'Warp! (Eh heh heh heh)-oh! And the pipsqueak belongs to 'Screamer, a.k.a. M.I.L.F. So there's Tank Girl, Rev, 'Celerate, Pipsqueak, and Quiet Weirdo-"

Thundercracker quickly slapped Skywarp's head. "I thought you said she was cute!"

"Slag that hurts! And a gal can't just SIT there looking cute for the next billion astroseconds! How shy can she get?"

"She seems very introverted…" Thundercracker's mumbling was quickly ignored by his wingmate. "'Don't know, don't care. But she does make good energon pie."

The blue jet's comment digressed to a more serious tone. "…We had pie?"

"Yeap."

"We had, _pie_ pie?" A firm nod from Skywarp confirmed the information to be true, only to have his comrade reiterate the question. "…We, **HAD**, pie pie."

"And it was good too hey what the slag OW_-!_"

The females left the room before the two males started squabbling over trivialities once again. While the twins leaned on each other for comfort, Lightburst sat peacefully on Midnight's shoulder, dimming her aura so as to not distract the seeker's optics. The largest of the group silently led them on to the med bay, where they would meet with their leader in one piece, hopefully. Tank Girl's stature was to their advantage when the males parted to let the group through, and laid their optics on their supine leader.

"Commander Starscream," a humbled arm shook the red seeker's foot. "Are you awake ma'am?"

"…Mommy?" the smallest of the females floated to Starscream's face and waited for a response. A single glance at her creator sent quiet doubts about her beliefs; how can there be someone even greater than Starscream in sheer power? Everyone was already larger than her in size…now there's a figure that could topple her foster parent? How can she protect her mother, much less herself? Another goading whimper cut a red slit into the seekers face, reflecting a tired glow at the Cassetticon.

"…Mmph…ohhh….hrrk…" the aerial commander cleared her vocal box and lifted herself off the medical bed to look at her newly required team.

"…So much for Plan B, huh?" Rev smirked.

"…At least you're alive…" Starscream's body creaked as she brought herself face-to-face with the automobile. "…Be _grateful_."

Despite being torn apart by Megatron's customary welcome (specially reserved for the aerial commander), Starscream still held authority in her weakened state, and made her rank clear that she could dispose of them just as easily as Megatron could do to her. That unspoken statement cum threat did not include her fighting prowess. For the aptly named Tank Girl, her sturdy sense of duty outweighed her unfettered strength, and with Lightburst, loyalty replaced duty. The vehicle twins glorified their speed on the ground, but the difference in terrain was of no concern to the red seeker's good two point seven mach speed. The second female seeker was very much an enigma to those who don't know her. Overall, they are a new wave of Decepticons on their obscure 'excursion' on Earth. From the medical bay to the briefing room, Starscream seated herself in the centre of the table, while the rest ignored the hierarchy amongst themselves and took their seats.

"First order of business, _ladies_…"

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Megatron smirked at the last word. The red jet's sarcasm always took attendance in her hissy speech. Laserbeak's secret recordings continued uninterrupted as with Starscream's commands for her female troops.

"Out leader Megatron, may have given you a verbal confirmation of your participation in our war, but there's no written proof, so don't get your jolly skirt's in a pleat yet. The Nemesis can afford to accommodate numerous soldiers, but in our (and by our I mean _your_) case being the minority, a mobile station is needed. How does that go, T.G.?"

Laserbeak and Megatron turned their optics to the monotone Decepticon confirming a steady construction process. The vehicles and their geographical reconnaissance missions on Earth had positive results, and Lightburst's size allowed her to study earthlings and their dysfunctional progress at social advancement. The leader of the Decepticons frowned at the last one, until Starscream spoke to her in a more cautionary manner. '_That blue seeker is timid and meek, but not useless. She's holds some foundation in their team,_' Megatron soon lost interest when the females exited the room to start their new tasks at hand. A gruff order on her comm. link summoned the aerial commander to share the same room with Megatron, and the same disgruntled look on their faces.

'_It's not like I didn't see your stupid parakeet spying on us…_' her thoughts matched her unhappy grimace. "What do you want now leader? And F.Y.I. Megatron, I'm _not_ your personal duffel bag." The mech was not in the mood for their verbal sparring, but out of habitual routine, he involuntarily lashed out a cheap threat at her.

"Shut up and listen female, or I'll knock another spark in you."

"Ooh, battery _and_ rape, no WONDER you're our leader-_ACKH!_" A strong backhand to Starscream's cheek stopped the jet from finishing her sentence. Expecting the floor to slam into her face, Starscream opened her eyes when she felt her rump being dropped onto a chair by a cold hand, half wringing her neck.

"Let's make this clear before I have to suffer anymore of your stupidity…" Megatron paused, and dropped his weight on the seat opposite the seeker nursing her sore neck. The jet's insubordinate behaviour only served to sour his mood, but the great Decepticon mentally waved his animosity away. "Through sheer luck inconceivable by the Primus himself, you've finally made yourself useful to me, Starscream. While you were unconscious, the Constructicons scanned the spark and the test results are back; that spark you carry is mine as well as yours, and I will not deny it."

"Great, can I GO now-" Megatron hands facilely shoved her back down shortly after Starscream chose to get up from her chair. "You will **SIT.**"

Megatron took gratification when Starscream crossed her limbs together, pairing her arms and legs with a defeated huff. "I'm not surprised that you have exploited this new life, and it's pleasurable to know that I will too. My reward for your selfless act in providing a legacy for the Decepticons with your _humble_ womanhood, is your life which is to be spared."

"(Not the first time _I'VE_ heard that…)" Starscream ceased her petty comments to look at her leader, concentrating on the soft glow radiating from her side. A blue hand quickly shielded the growing spark, and the duo turned their faces to each other in unison.

"You may not partake in any physical combat until the spark can survive without its host; this rule does not omit your other military duties," Megatron gave Starscream a few seconds to absorb the information. "You are not to leave the base, and the voice recognition systems will not register your commands. Your weapons will also be confiscated for the safety of our spark, and any other misdeeds you might commit to gain unauthorised leave of the premises. Am I understood?"

Starscream's optics now glowed with renewed vigour, her mind stunned beyond comprehension at the facts laid out in front of her. "I…I'm a prisoner…in-…in my own base? A _PRISONER? __**STARSCREAM**__, the pride of the Decepticon War Academy, LOCKED UP IN THIS PURPLE MONSTROSITY YOU CALL A __**BASE?**_"

"More or less. Your null rays, if you don't mind," Megatron's mood was starting to get lighter by the second.

"I _**DO**_ MIND YOU **BUCKET-HEADED BASTARD!**" Starscream's voice reached a new level of shrilling acrimony as she pushed herself off her chair. The pleasantly calm Decepticon leader happily dwelled in her suffering, admiring her arms flailing about with her mouth as she rabidly paced across the room, hissing and screaming like an abused cat. Megatron didn't so much as blink when she lanced her soon-to-be confiscated rifles at his forehead, and broke into a healthy fit of sniggers when they fizzled weakly, spitting a few pink and purple sparks onto the metal floor.

"MY NULL RAYS!" the red jet cried the obvious, and Megatron answered the obvious. "Yes, they _are_ depleted."

Starscream swiped a rebellious hand across Megatron's face, standing back dumbly to find no aggravated snarl from her leader. Unable to carry her agitated senses, the femme con decided to spread her livid temper around the Nemesis like an unwanted plague. Embedding the floor with her graceless change feet, Starscream marched to the door to hear the familiar grumble from the exit. Except for one small obstacle.

The door.

It won't open.

"…_.EYYYAAAAAAAAAA__**AAAAAAAAAGH!**_"

Megatron looked up from his data pad, searching for some words of endearment to calm his aerial commander.

"What's wrong, my metal-winged buttercup?"

"_THE SLAGGING DOOR WON'T __**OPEN? THE SLAGGING DOOR WON'T OPEN WHAT IN PRIMUS' NAME HAVE YOU DONEAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHHHH!**_" Megatron waited another astrosecond for the seeker to pound the floor with her delicate blue feet, stamping away like an obstinate child wanting the absolute. Through and through her fuming and rasping, did the idea finally dawn upon Starscream as to how the door's sensors could detect her from a good distance away before entering the room; Megatron 'chivalrously' opened it for her, giving Starscream the benefit of the doubt. Having gained enlightenment of no religious connotation, Starscream ceased her banshee cries to gnash menacingly at her leader.

"You…**YOU****…!**" Fumbling through her mind to form a coherent sentence, Megatron casually interrupted the F-15 and her bruxing. "I suggest you respect your leader, for your own good. After all, I hold the key which will grant you access to your quarters, occupied meeting rooms, the canteen, and, (I can't remember why), the storage room."

'_The slagging STORAGE ROOM? WHY WOULD I-!_' the aerial commander forgot her grumbling thoughts to find the mech in front of her looking serene, with a smile to grace his contentment. The female narrowed her optics to nervous twitching slits, waiting for the worst yet to come.

"Now, my pet…" she winced at that word. "Who is your leader?"

Starscream waited for the words to reach her mouth, and mumbled something her audio receptors became deaf to. "(…You are…)"

"I don't believe that is the right way to address someone, Starscream. You must be **loud** and _clear_," The seeker could literally hear the grey Decepticon getting drunk on her misery, and dug her fingers into the palms of her fists. "**You** are, oh _illustrious_ one…"

"You're flattery will get you nowhere when you lack the proper decorum," Megatron stroked the same cheek she slapped a few minutes ago. "Get on your knees and do it properly Starscream, I'm getting bored…"

Starscream's open palms met the floor, bowing her head to avoid looking at the smug face, but the nausea would not leave her fuel pumps. The jet stooped lower when a pair of feet propped themselves on her wings, sliding to her nape to draw her forehead to the ground. "Let's try this one more time. Who is your leader, female?"

"…You are, Lord Megatron, leader of the Decepticons…" the seeker dragged her sentence to a scratchy note, not going unnoticed by the owner of the feet, scuffing her shoulders to clean the soles underneath. Staring at the black helmet in front of him, Megatron smirked at the faceless seeker. "Look on the bright side Starscream, I'm only teaching you some humility," he chuckled further. "At least I didn't ask you to grovel and beg like you always do, or clean my feet with-…"

The tyrant drew back at the touch of blue slender fingers, curling around his calf. Without cue, the red jet crawled closer on all-fours, gently embracing her master's leg it as if her life depended on it. Megatron held his silence when her head drifted from his calf to peck his feet with her trembling lips.

"…May I have the key, my lord…(…please…)" she lingered as her leader whisked his foot away from her in revulsion of her current behaviour, and a cautionary step just in case she wanted to bite him. Starscream felt a slim wire fall around her neck, keeping her demeaning posture for his next command. "This collar around your neck will allow you get out of my sights, you pathetic worm."

"(…Yes my lord…)" her voice was almost inaudible, crushed beyond defeat and humiliation.

"Go find something useful to do, you simpering excuse for a Decepticon." He swivelled his chair away from the Transformer crouched like a rock. "You **dis**_**gust**_ me."

Starscream heavy feet shuffled to the door, her footsteps getting faster as she left the room. The tyrant almost missed Starscream's unneeded comments until she censured him with a mocking salute.

"_**PUTIRD SLAG FOR THOUGHT CIRCUITS!**_" she yelled.

Megatron would have made a powerful swivel-to-leap from his chair, if it didn't unscrew itself from the base and tripped the great Decepticon leader to the plated floor. No wonder the seeker was bowing for so long…

* * *

A/N: I wanted to write more, but I got tired. Ah, updates are slow, but there's so much text it slows down my brains (excluding the workload from my job) There were other plans for confining Starscream, but then the story might take a lame turn along the lines of:

"_Having produced Megatron's sprog in a dinky prison after 25 billion vorns, Starscream got totally slagged beyond revival. THE END."_

Yeeeap. I almost forgot, Starburst is a chewy sweet. I can't remember what it looks or taste's like, but if it's sugar-coated, I hate it.


	7. Chapter 6: A Passing Breeze

**Chapter 6: A Passing Breeze**

A/N: Sorry for the very late update, I had a lot of things to do at work, problems to untangle and mental blocks to eat. There are more swear words inside just to warn you, and I'll probably maintain it in the future, but I hope you enjoy this chapter even if it's lacking substance (too many things on my mind right now) XP

Note: Greta Garbo is a silent film actress, in case anyone didn't know.

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait…he-…he GROUNDED you? Megatron, _GROUNDED_ _you?_"

The mechs leaned back in their seats to get a better view of the sulking red seeker, watching her energon cube and its glowing contents playing against her visage. Skywarp popped his mouth open and raised a finger without activating his vocaliser, waiting for the words to process in his cerebral board.

"So….eh….whatcha' you gonna do? I mean, I don't think you can stay here feelin' the cabin fever, I mean, how fast will it grow and when can you-" Skywarp paused when his blue wingmate discontinued his own brand of silence. "Um, 'Warp, I think we should talk about this in a more private place. Right 'Screamer?"

Starscream couldn't agree more with sixty odd pairs of optics in the mess hall glued to spark's presence in her cockpit, having not seen a spark bearing female in four million years. Even the smaller Cassetticons innocently tilted their heads to one side, trying to comprehend the workings of a female body; Frenzy earned himself a hard slap on the head by a navy blue hand, after pointing and whispering indiscreetly. The red jet straightened her legs to waltz along the males, audaciously manoeuvring herself between their seats. Some shrunk away into their rations, others dipped their chins into their chests or literally cowered in her presence, trepid of anything unusual to happen to the femme con. Starscream thought she saw one of the Reflector triplets clenching his shutter tightly.

"WHAT in the Pit is **WRONG** with you all?" Starscream waved her arms as if she wasn't under enough scrutiny. "Are you all _AFRAID_ of one pre-shelled Transformer?"

Starscream turned to the voice belonging to the purple Cassetticon. "It'z different now, 'Screamer…"

Dirge piped up from his vegetative state in the Conehead trine. "That's Megatron's spark and it's our duty to guard and protect it. Any harm it gets will bring dire consequences, (dire consequences)…"

"…Oh _reaaaally…_" the rustle of shivering mechs clattered across the hall when she deftly nipped one of Rumble's miniscule weaponry, raising cries of clamour and dread against the gun aimed at her chest. The aerial commander's lopsided grin joined her angry countenance and she flicked the trinket back to its owner, marching out of the room with a few words of advice for the canteen's population.

"I can't even use that puny peashooter you moronic BOOBS, and you're ALL SO _PREDICTABLE!_" Starscream grumbled her way out of the mess hall, leaving the rest of the Decepticons stunned, until one purple seeker sniggered the silence away.

"…Eh-heh-huh-huh…she-…she called us BOOBS…(eh-heh-heh)…er…" Skywarp stopped his giggling when sixty odd pairs of optics glared in his direction. Thundercracker hard-heartedly disregarded his comrade's fate and stood up to follow his aerial commander, tracking her to the singular most immaculate room inhabited among the seekers. The door revealed his wingmate perusing a data pad belonging to the lengthy stack lined up on her desk. Despite the added company, Starscream continued her habitual mutterings to herself, listing the events that irked her.

"(Mechs all of them I'll show them-) What do you want Thundercracker-(moronic stupidity everywhere never eluding me-!)" The winged mech and his 'moronic stupidity' placed himself on her recharge berth as she categorised her troubles, from the uncomfortable harassment to the aggravated disasters of her life, while she remained the faultless victim. The warrior sat in awe of the injustices that plagued his aerial commander day in and day out, drawing a tight lip along with a pair of raised optics to grace his countenance. Sharp fingers ceased its pernicious keyboard stabbing when the azure jet maintained his soundless existence.

"What do you want, Garbocracker?" Starscream's turned to flash an insult, which became lost and neglected to a blocky hand patting the empty space beside the smiling blue seeker. Achieving no response, he started stroking the flat metal in a circular motion with his palm, stopping only when Starscream planted her bottom in its place. "The name's TC-"

"The name's TC because everyone told you so," she cut short his introduction. "…Why do you think you're here?"

"Because I want to know," Thundercracker rested his weight on his back, looking where the wall ended and the ceiling started. "I want to know why I died. I shot myself, and I know it was for you, but that's it really."

The blue Decepticon turned to arrest her gaze, but Starscream was looking elsewhere. "…You were a stupid fool playing the game of unrequited love; and to think you chose the losing team when you knew better. You don't know how many times I've warned you in your previous life: I don't like you I don't hate you, there is nothing between us, love is this, I'm not your love blah blah blah-"

"I'm your older brother, figuratively speaking," the mech was quite surprised as Starscream was when he placed his hand on her shoulder. "Well, if you need anything, I'm here for you."

The last sentence stole the female's optics from the corner of her recharge bed. "…You've only been online for a few months. What the slag are you on?"

"Nothing. I just think Transformers shouldn't mess around with their siblings, not even if your metaphorical sister has (quote Skywarp), the hottest set of legs in the galaxy," the nihilism slowly started to wear off the femme con's visage. "Just saying…if you need a shoulder to bitch and complain to, mine's always here, all right? I won't die for you twice, but I can do this much."

Starscream had no disagreement when Thundercracker pulled her head to his chest, slowly being won over by the bond she dearly missed in her wingmate. '_It used to be like this TC…and I hope you'll never have to learn that lesson again-_'

"'Course, my audio sensors will be turned off when you start your yappin'," Starscream's expression took a drastic change, being neglected and ignored by yours truly. "And when you're waxing your aft, there's nothing wrong with your big bro watching, 'cause I'm just making sure you clean that tailgate nice and fine. If there's any hard-to-reach places just-"

"Stupid shit-!" Starscream's hand playfully shoved the blue mech's cheek as fast as his tongue was wagging. "You're starting to sound like Skywarp, slagging jerk-off!"

"Join the club!" Thundercracker caught another palm on his chest, and pressed them against his cockpit to prevent the livid femme con from clawing the glass. The duo stopped struggling when they threw each other off the recharge berth, ending up as a blue and red mess on the floor. "You never learn!"

"Hey, online for less than a vorn and I hear we hardly see females? I'd grab the chance before it stomps the paint off my body!"

Wanting to enjoy the crude joke and pummel the blue jet at the same time, Starscream stopped her fists when a purple seeker crumpled to the floor next to them. Skywarp looked up at his limb-tangled wingmates with only one thing in mind.

"…No one can take a joke…gedda' room…" Skywarp succumbed to his injuries and collapsed from the weight of his head. Starscream glared daggers at their unconscious wingmate. "…We're already _in_ a room…"

"But…" Thundercracker's tone took a more serious note. "Megatron took away your null rays and limited your access around the Nemesis…doesn't that make you…vulnerable? No offence 'Screamer, but you're not exactly Miss Popular."

Starscream's sombre expression reflected on her wingmates concern. "Well, I've managed to gain _some_ leverage on my 'imprisonment'. For one, I'm not _totally_ defenceless…" a dark look shadowed her chiselled smirk, giving Thundercracker a good idea of her perniciousness. "Point taken ma'am!"

"And I can't stand being around Megatron as much as he can with me, so he's allowed me some flying grounds within a (limited) perimeter around the Nemesis…with two escorts. No surprise as to who will spare they're free time out of duty…?" the femme con's rare but existing angelic nature teasingly rubbed wings with the aqua seeker, but Starscream's look rapidly turned sour at the blue warrior's lip waggling. "Um…our schedules have been rearranged for the months to come…and…"

"…(Let me guess). "You and Skywarp have been reassigned to other teams, and with separate schedules, you'll both have little to no time for our trine." Thundercracker looked helplessly at the femme con sighing into the palms of her hands. "…We'll contact you when we're both free."

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_Okey dokey then. If this helps me, why not? All I have here are datapads to keep me company, everyone's flying outside to fight and smoke the air with the remains of our enemies. It's our duty, it's what we do. We're soldiers. We're honourable Decepticons, we are warriors…_

…_Warriors. Growing sparks. I was quite surprised myself when I found out. Never thought it would come to this. How could this happen? Well, how could this happen with Megatron, of all Transformers. Normal circumstances state that it takes two _compatible_ sparks to create a new Transformer; to have a 'deep' connection of some sort. I thought maybe Jay and I had a connection. Maybe. Oh poppycock. If only he was on my side. I guess Megatron and I were made for each other (geugh)…(Ho-hum...)…_

…_INCOMPATIBLE WITH EVERY FEMALE ON THE PLANET EXCEPT ME? IT'S A LIE! YOU HAVE BASTARD SPARKLINGS _LITTERED _**ALL**__ OVER THE PLACE! YOU'RE A MECH OF AN ENTIRE ARMY, YOU GET AROUND! __**YOU GET AROUND! **__STAYING HERE LOCKED UP LIKE SOME KINDS OF ROBOCANARY! It's okay, breathe Starscream, work your ventilation systems Starscream, it's only the sky, it's only the element you strive in-) SLAGSLAGBURNINGSLAGSLAG_SLAGSLAGSLAG_**SLAAAAAG!**_

…_THERE. _

_Alllllll better now. I'll just, do my DESK work, guzzle energon for my little _sprog_ growing inside me…make everyone's lives a living hell, all for this sparkling. Apparently this, __**thing**__ is going to affect my mental relay systems. Apparently. Great. So I'll just…just…I…I…I'm thirsty. Carrying another spark really…energon-…really gets you thirsty. No, I'm upset because Megatron CAGED me here. I can't go out, who knows what he has installed for me outside. If I do manage to sneak out undetected, Megatron's not going to let me back in. 'Report to me every two Earth hours!' What is he, my nannybot? (Okay, okay, this IS Megatron's 'one and only' legacy to the Decepticon empire, so it __**is**__ pretty important). I know he will make me suffer if I disobey him. How long can I last in this stupid…by the Pit I'm thirsty. Let's see._

…_Fourty-one percent 'till energon depletion? I had some two days ago! This is a mistake, I don't usually expend this much fuel-_

…_Slag. Okay. Thirsty. Must. Have. Energon. Must…(must take Megatron's quality stash hidden somewhere…ooh…thinking about it gives me the surges…)_

_Yes. My sparkling needs (and gets) ONLY the best!_

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…_He let me have some._

_Megatron, LET me have some of his premium energon._

…_All hail Megatron! GREATEST leader of the Decepticons (for now)!_

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Two human months sail by, only to feed Starscream's bottomless appetite for the limitless skies outside the Decepticon headquarters. Riding the winds above the sea, Lightburst's feet caught the platform to the Nemesis, swallowing the tiny Cassetticon into the underwater base. As soon as she entered the purple halls, the femme con yipped to a corner, barely avoiding a gestalt team careening down the floors, the walls and even the ceiling. Observing the Stunticons crisscrossing each other to a near-collision, Lightburst clipped on her faceplate and visors more out of trepidation than safety. A casual stroll to her destination soothed her fuel pump, greeting her superiors or like-minded peers who bothered to acknowledge her puny existence. Rumble and Frenzy didn't miss her jerky, flustered movements as she skittered pass them. Especially Frenzy and his lengthened arms.

"Hey baby, wanna play doctor? I'll make ya' _allllll_ better! _Hyeh_ _ha ha ha!_"

She liked Ravage more. Taking to flight from Soundwave's bipedal cassettes, the femme con escaped from one bully to another when she entered the surveillance room to join her sisters. Nipped in mid-flutter by the ankles, the small Decepticon dangled from the pointed blue fingertips like an insect, squealing in captured fright and pain.

"Where'd you go poppet? Did your **mommy** send you on another 'secret mission' or somethin'?" Rev feverously shook the Cassetticon like an unravelled yo-yo when she failed to deliver the answers the automobile wanted to hear. "C'mon, you know 'Screamer can't go for outies with Mega-Junior inside her! I bet she did! C'mon Pinkycon, tell us!"

Lightburst knew that the discretion applied to these informal errands would be sorely defeated if she blatantly admitted them. The minute female's vision rolled when her captor tossed her into the air, somersaulting into another pair of hands almost identical to the previous owner.

"C'mon Rev, she's only like, this high," 'Celerate petted the confused femme con, but her sister snatched their minute team mate, mimicking her sister's previous actions with zealous endearment.

"I KNOW that, duh, I was just wondering, that's all," Rev brought the agitated Cassetticon to her face and gave her a mocking hard look. "Okay Lighty, I won't ask what you do, as long as you've nothing to hide. So. What did Commander mummy make you do?"

"She-…she-" Lightburst recalled her recited lines. "My mum wanted me to-to take pictures of the sky and-and enjoy flying (and stuff)-"

"LIE! You're LYING!" Rev enthusiastically screeched in assumption on catching Lightburst's bluff, and the cassette's body shifted back into 'Celerate's hands.

"Hey, stop teasing her, she's all scared now! It's only a joke Lightburst-!" Stolen back again, the twins voices boomed and drifted with each pass.

"No she's lying-are you LYING LIGHTY? I CAN SEE PAST YOUR FACE GUARD, what, you'VE GOT A RUSTY RASH OR-"

"HEY! She was in **my** hANDS! You okay Lightburst, don't worry, we're ONLY JOKing-!"

"Blah blah blah- LIGHTY'S LYING**! C'MON SPILL IT-**_WHOOPS!_"

A small gasp echoed the room when the twins missed a beat, and the petite Cassetticon slapped the floor with an unceremonious thud. Scrambling to her knees, the shivering femme con met the other three faces occupying the room, and did was natural to her and the situation she was literally dropped in.

She acted half her name out, and burst into tears.

"O. M. G." Rev looked at her identical sister, and the twins chimed in with immediate effect. "_WE'RE SORRY!_"

"EEEEEEEEEHHHH!" Lightburst wailed into her moist hands and blindly dashed out of the room, after running into the wall next to the door. A single chair rotated the last Decepticon into view, and her peers turned to look at her dour face.

"We were supposed to be doing our duty in order to test our flexibility in the various tasks presented to us." Tank Girl spoke. "You two are imbecilic."

"(Well, _I_ didn't drop her,)" the Decepticon females took their cue and sat back in their warmed seats, watching the mundane lives in the Nemesis. Midnight spotted Lightburst running into another Cassetticon, slapping the unfortunate Rumble across the face as he stopped them both from falling to the floor. The purple cassette reiterated his name to Lightburst sobbing down the corridor, before tackling his red and black counterpart guffawing at his predicament.

"…Even Lightburst gets confused between the two…" Midnight mumbled to herself. Drawing her optics to another screen, the ultramarine seeker spotted her leader beside Megatron, running her mouth with gusto. Leaning over the dark jet's control board, 'Celerate shared the view with her peer of their aerial commander.

"I set it on mute, so we don't have to hear Commander Starscream bitching and moaning about everything," Midnight shyly turned to the race car. "…He, um…he keeps hitting her-"

"Nah, they just love each other, see?" The surveillance camera espied Starscream's cheek taking another hearty backhand from Megatron. "He used to punch her, but now he's just slaps her. Awwwww…" Unable to fully appreciate the vehicle's unlatched sarcasm, Midnight quietly contemplated the corners that remained out of the camera's view. It was those stunted corners that the red seeker would be dragged into by the tyrant, and after an astrosecond out of prying optics, the couple would resume their duties as if no conflict had conspired before.

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…_Five. Months. Five, months, twenty-three days, four hours and seventeen point three seconds._

_...Get out. Get out get out getoutgetoutgetout-GET OOOOUUUUUTTTTTTTT! PLEAAASE! If you love your creator, you'll zap yourself out of me so I can fly again! I hardly see Thundercracker and Skywarp now and I'm missing them! I'M ACTUALLY MISSING THOSE GOONS! Please,please, puh-leeeease get out. If you get out, I'll spoil you like those obese children those fleshies own. Ugh, Human procreation. Disgusting, wasteful, **messy**…pl-lee-e-eeeeease…I'll-I'll do anything! ANYTHING!_

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"FREE! FREEEE! **FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**"

"Okay 'Screamer, you can stop making us DEAF now! Whaddya do to get on Megatron's good side?"

"More like, who'd she polish to change shifts with one of us?" Starscream was too absorbed with the endless sky to hear Thundercracker's comment, barrel rolling and careening into the wispy clouds. The aerial commander's spontaneity goaded the violet seeker to childishly sway from side-to-side with an idea behind her liberated state. "Dunno TC, but Soundwave changed our rosters today, and now _Rumble's_ taking my shift! Weird, huh?"

"The glitch took your shift on purpose, _glitch_."

"Yeah, and he didn't take yours. Sucks to be you, huh? Hey-hey!" Skywarp half chuckled, half-grunted at his friend swatting his tailfin with his wing. "That's sexual harassment, ya' dweeb!"

"Don't flatter yourself. I see you wake up every morning and it's bad enough, but the toxic breath? Now that's harsh bro, real harsh-erhf!" Skywarp returned the favour with a good nudge to the blue seeker's side, and the duo broke out into a mock dog fight. The mechs ceased their tail chasing when the air they occupied was missing a third F-15. "Where's the mamasita? She couldn't have wandered far."

"You mean Starscream's going to stay in the limited airspace Megatron's assigned for her? _Right._" Thundercracker did another scan of their surroundings. "She not on my radar-!"

"Slag, TC. She's just playin' hide and seek…or kissin' a rock or somethin'…being locked up for too long does that to ya' I'd think. Starscream's wearing her necklace she can't remove 'cause Megatron's rigged it and the space around the Nemesis. If Hot Legs flies outta radius, ZAOWIE! She falls into stasis lock from super-headache-causing mind jolt-thingamajig, thanks to her 'present'. Even if she's not conked out yet, she's bound to be lying somewhere. Chekkit."

"Check what-…oh, there she is," Thundercracker landed feet first next to the tangled foliage and sifted himself through the forest. "Hey, 'Warp."

"Whaaaat?" Skywarp nasally moaned at his comrade and made a frustrated loop. "She didn't step on your foot, did she? As far as I know, she's got nothin' on her! No null rays, no tiny missiles, nothin'! She won't go outta range with nothing to defend herself! So if she starts throwin' rocks at ya'-!"

"You _do_ know she's allowed ONE weapon on her, right?"

"Yeah, but we screened her before lift off, and that puny knife couldn't scratch an optic. Why."

"Who's in charge of the devices keeping Starscream in range?"

"Soundwave, why."

"Which one's bigger, Soundwave's cerebral board or Starscream's determination?"

"Why? She ate something bigger than her head again?"

"A large head needs a large necklace." Thundercracker picked up what was left of Starscream's collar and juggled the contents in his hand. "I _think_ our leader must took the wrong measurements…and if I was Starscream, I'd take the components needed to get in and out of the Nemesis."

Skywarp stared blankly at the blue seeker. "I blame Soundwave."

"'Warp-" The purple jet's optics glowered.

"And his flying monkeys. It's all Rumble's fault-" Skywarp continued.

"We have to find her, or it's out sparks on the line." Thundercracker found a suitable clearing and shot out of the local fauna. "(Shouldn't have let her take that surgical knife.)"

"Yoo-hooooo! Boooys!" Thundercracker and Skywarp did a perfect U-turn to find the red seeker, floating in the sky with her arms folded. The rest of the dismantled collar glimmered within her cockpit, catching the sun's rays as the mechs confronted her defiant stance. Thundercracker was the least happy of them all, replying to her sing-song dialogue first. "This ain't funny 'Screamer!"

"Who said it was a joke?" she teasingly smirked at Thundercracker. "Don't worry, I won't go far. My neck was aching, that's all. You boy's _trust_ me…"

"You could have at least TOLD us!" Skywarp barrel-rolled around the stationary blue F-15. "…You gotta come back, I don't wanna suffer THAT much for ya-!"

"Uh, uh, uh…" Starscream gently floated a few meters back. "Let me remind you that you're out of my 'flying zone'."

"So?" the black jet grunted uninterestingly. "So one of you is holding the other part of the necklace. _Those_ parts are fitted with the stasis-inducing mechanism, and the shock range is…oh, just enough to get the both of you." Starscream puckered her lips, wishing she could see their faces right now. "Should I…activate it, or shall we go for a nice cruise?"

The blue and purple seekers glided in their own contempt for an astrosecond, and came to a sound conclusion of the Decepticon army's second-in-command. "Bitch."

"Ooh hoo-hoo, you're so bloody romantic Skywarp, say it again; it makes me tingle _allllll_ over." Starscream reverted back to her jet mode and reassured her wingmates. "Look, we're still a trine, all right? You cover my clouds, and I'll cover your bumbling mistakes, deal?"

"Whatever. So where to, Princess Fluffy-Cakes?" Starscream almost halted her flight course at that last comment. "…What?"

"Yeah, I bet she rubbed Megatron up _reaaaaal_ good to get on his good side again. You know what I mean, when the grown-ups get lonely?" Skywarp added. "What d'ya think he calls her now?"

"Will you idiots just shut up? I like my flights to be quiet and I didn't do anything to-" Starscream's griping was cut short by Thundercracker making a nonchalant smacking sound over the radio.

"I dunno, erh…'The Jet That Warms My Cold Grey Kaboose?'" Skywarp had a better moniker. "My Mega-Metal-Munchkin! _Rawwwrrrrrl!_"

"Now that's just stup-!"

"The Red Rose Of My Darkest Sky?"

"**PRIMUS! WILL YOU TWO-?**"

"My Super-Sugar-Bootilicious-Honey-Baby-Fly-Thang?"

"The Chaos Of Passion In My Raging Spark?"

"My-_woaAaa__**AOWoWOWOwAAaAAGHHH!**_" the seekers save for Starscream tumbled in unison at the shared electromagnetic shocks, leaving the female happily waiting for their recovery. "Eat that, you slimy grease barrels."

"Su-su-su-su-super biIitCh!" Skywarp trembled as the last effects of the collar off, abandoning the unwanted parts of Starscream's necklace into the dense forest below.

"(And that's not my nickname…)" the trio speared their formation through clouds, weaving in-between the Earth's natural landscape on Starscream's modest lead. Having recently revised his wing mates specs in his spare time, Thundercracker peeped a question at his aerial commander with wondering curiosity. "Starscream, you're the fastest flier between the three of us, but-"

"-Why am I flying so _slow?_" she ended his question. "Don't be a fool like Skywarp. I'm not THE Decepticon aerial commander for nothing if I can't keep you boys in check, (so don't try to keep up with me when I'm flying solo, it will only make you feel inadequate). Primus, how much energon does this sparkling guzzle anyway? I had to refuel so many times this month it's become a chore! I know this is Megatron's first potential heir, but this is more than energon consumption it's…it's…"

"Financial consumption?" Thundercracker hinted. Her defeated sigh resonated through their communicators in the thin air.

"And it's our job to protect it!" Thundercracker grazed Skywarp's wing. "…And you. We don't forget you, hot legs-HOLYFRAGMISSILE_MISSILEMISSILEMISSILEWATCHOUT__**SLAG-!**_"

In incoming projectile immediately seized Starscream to quick rationale. "TELEPORT US YOU FRAGGING-!"

Scooping his wingmates into his own wing space, Skywarp snatched them from the missile's line of fire to a coveted area within his abilities. Shuffling off the dirt ground, the red and blue seeker recovered from the unwanted queasiness in teleporting.

"A stray missile…" Starscream espied a new crater in the landscape. "A battle must be nearby. I think Megatron's found the Autolosers. A battle…HAH! WELL MEN?"

"Well what?" Skywarp shrugged. The two seekers turned to their blue comrade, popping his foot from the ground. "(Slag Skywarp of all the places to teleport and leave my leg in…)"

"What are you standing around for? Go on, protect your leader!" Starscream impulsively swung her arms to the side with hinted gesture. "There is only one Megatron in this universe!"

"And there'll be no **us** in this universe if we fail to protect you!" Thundercracker stated. Skywarp second that notion when he realised Starscream's initial command for them. "C'mon baby cakes, it's our-no, YOU'RE our duty!"

The red seeker playfully flicked an open palm to her head, to listen for a familiar call. "The battle sounds heavy. If Megatron's in trouble, he'll be bellowing for-!"

"-_kkkht_-This is Megatron, calling for reinforcements nearby-rendezvous at my coordinates and-_kiiiii_-launch an immediate counterattack! -_fft_-RESPOND!"

The mechs concentrated their optics on Starscream's guise of seraphic innocence, and were left thoroughly unconvinced. "I promise I'll stay roosted like a good robo-hen!"

"Like I'd believe that-" Skywarp razzed.

"-Thundercracker and Skywarp reporting for duty. E.T.A., 1.6 astroseconds." Thundercracker clicked his communicator shut, checking the dark mech's disbelief for the second time. "We'll have to believe her…if not for her _own_ safety." Thundercracker scanned the spark-carrying femme. "Come on 'Warp."

"Wait! Wait! WAIT. What if Megatron finds out we're not here guarding Starscream who's not back in HQ?"

"I'll give you a ring if I _feel_ like going back to base," Starscream threw in a shallow promise. A sharp swivel from a pair of aqua feet brought Thundercracker looking back at his aerial commander again. "You **will** go back to base shortly."

"Do I smell the stink of insubordination, Thundercracker, or are you feeling ballsy today?" the female hissed to Thundercracker's emptied threat. "It's just some advise 'Screamer, don't read too much into it. Come on 'Warp, let's break some Autobots."

"('Outta warp her body into the GROUND, 'con-) I'm sorry 'Screamer I'm sorry-! Whoa!" two seekers configured themselves into their respected alt modes and launched to the skies, reflecting against Starscream's claret vision.

"Well then. It's time for me to do my thing…" Starscream snapped her own communicator out of her arm. "Femme cons, get ready to make a move…"

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A/N: Mummy is British English, and mommy is the American English for mother. I used both to emphasise Rev's pronunciation of the word itself, but I do know some people pronounce these words to the letter. Again, sorry for the long update! This chapter has more words than the last few…


	8. Chapter 7: Time Out I

**Chapter 7: Time Out I**

A/N: Okay, trying to pick up the pace without being too picky about the fanfic because I am being too picky, and typing without looking at the keyboard really sucks right now! (Baby steps, baby steps…) I've noticed a lot of people have been adding me to their favourite writer/story/alert list. Either it's my b-day, or you all know each other ;) Thank you very much for your support! (Alert list would be better…I've been lagging myself :P)

* * *

_Thundercracker and Skywarp just joined the fray with guns a blazing, while Optimus Prime and Megatron are going at each other, one on one, hand to fist. The twins improve their jet judo skills with first hand experience, but that flying rat called Skywarp learns a new trick and disappears with Sideswipe on board (three guesses to where he's going). Huffer and Gears hands Laserbeak and Buzzsaw a ground full of earth, which proves how good they work and grumble together. Prowl's probably running a million different strategies right now to counter the seekers intervention, calculating the number of Decepticons who might be coming. Soundwave aims and takes a shot at my back, definitely not his first time._

_Force field._

"Trailbreaker, get ready to prepare another force field for immediate evacuation! Ratchet's not gonna make it and Ironhide can only take so much!" the Datsun police car calls to the black automobile.

_If Ironhide doesn't agree with one thing, it's being called obsolete and weak. That's the LAST thing you'd say to Ironhide. Just because he's old doesn't mean he's deaf._

"Yeu just get the wounded to safety, 'cause ahm gonna give them Decepticreeps some good ol' liquid nitrogen to cool 'em down!"

_Great, but there's just one problem. Skywarp's back, and he's flying in Ironhide's direction, with Sideswipe as a shield. Not intentional, but the weight of one's luck is an equal to one's stupidity, and Skywarp's stupid to a third degree._

_Force field, dammit-_

"AAGH!"

A small gleeful snicker slips from the female Decepticon's lips as the black Autobot was too late to dodge Thundercracker's passing, shattering the Autobot's audio receptors with a healthy sonic boom. Hungry optics watched the battle turn to the Decepticons favour, and it was only a matter of astroseconds that her commando team would show up and total the remaining Autobots. Casualties of war were a frequent occurrence, and Megatron's scheduled for an unprecedented 'accident'. It was just too simple, too simple! And she couldn't have thought of a better idea. Starscream concentrated on the battle in the shade, waiting for the right moment to claim Decepticon leadership. No one would hurt her when she's carrying the only legacy to the Decepticon empire! At least she'll give Megatron a fitting funeral service. A statue of such likeness to the passing of her soon-to-be late leader, a good eulogy reminding the troops to 'push onward for the future', or some similar patriotic rubbish, a few tears from his devastated lover…she can do that much. Stirring her memories back to light, Starscream drifted from her latest scheme to her old sentiments…

…When _did_ she start hating their leader?

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"Name, soldier."

"Starscream, my lord! At your service!" Starscream raised a stiff salute at Megatron, but her leader was already two seekers down the line, inspecting the rest of his troops.

_Did he see past my plating? He's not our leader for nothing, I bet there are many females sneaking into the army like this! What if I get caught? They'll have their way with me and dump my body into the Pits-he's looking at me, Megatron's looking at me! No-!_

"Starscream?" the silver Decepticon marched past her peers and strode back to the disguised female, who stabbed her head harder with the next salute. "Yes my lord!"

"You…it was you, wasn't it?" Megatron squinted at the end of his fading question.

_I'm doomed!_

"M-me sir?" she swallowed the trembling whimper in her fading voice.

"Soundwave mentioned you before…said you were an excellent flier. The battle was a greater success because of your efforts." Opportunity never presented itself twice, and the seeker thought she was due for an rewarding increment. She was an excellent flier, after all. "Thank you, my lord."

"What do you think…if you became Soundwave's equal peer?" her wingmates rapidly shot their gaze at their superior's direction. Either Starscream's that good, or Megatron's full of surprises.

"…T-…That would be perfect, my lord."

"Good."

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'_Hmph! "Good". Even perfection has an expiry date! GREAT!_' Starscream forced herself out of her reminiscing and steeled her focus on the battle playing out in front of her. Opening her private link between her comrades, Starscream took the reins to their formations as she did before her combat hiatus, putting them in synch with each other even without being a physical trine. Thundercracker was secretly elated to Starscream resuming her careful scrutiny of Skywarp, pointing him to the direction of their enemies. Even though the purple seeker is his friend, the azure flier was not aware of his friend's need of literal supervision until Starscream carried another spark, and that task was itself almost unbearable. '_Starscream can keep her duties! If that's what got her as Megatron's second-in-command, she's got no competition from me!_'

Five minutes dash by and Starscream was already bored with waiting for the femme con team. The battle was at a wavy stalemate and there was no time to spare. Having spent her time under discriminating captivity in the Nemesis, Starscream only increased her plans for Megatron's fatal downfall. There were numerous sites where the Decepticons would raid for energon, and around those areas were precarious natural disasters waiting to happen to their leader. Unstable land, a torrential river…the Earth is a fickle thing indeed, who would not spare her human or robot inhabitants. A small reverberation quivered into Starscream's audio receivers, and the female lightly stepped aside for her team to arrive from the ground itself. Twin drills ferociously bore its way out of the brown surface, and the earth gave birth to the femme con's base. A small voice comically rung from the enormous mobile base to betray the identity of one of the Decepticons residing in the base.

"Mother, Starburst and team ready and reportin' for duty! What do we do?" the base chirped in the glaring sunlight. Starscream smiled at the unresponsive drill tank base.

"What you all were programmed to do. No female Decepticon has been treated as much as you all, so..."

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Optimus Prime was doggedly persistent, and Megatron would have passed a bitter compliment to his rival if the Autobot truck wasn't resisting his attacks as of that moment. Taking cover from the yellow beams over passing his helmet, the chalk coloured leader was ominously balling his frustration into his next shot. Reinforcements only neutralised the battle, neither faction gaining favour over the other. His warriors were spread out too thinly, and the Autobots had scurried over the advantageous side of the natural landscape, gaining ample cover for the rest of Prime's troops. Megatron had to make a clearing for his army to escape…that much he could do and salvage. There would be better days if the Constructicons weren't-

"FEMALES, TRANSFORM!"

Transform?

"MERGE INTO-!"

_Merge?_

Any Transformer with a good pair of working optics took a glazed look at the Transformer casting the largest shadow over the battlefield. The younger mechs would have passed a few one-liners on the looming female's conical chest, making comparisons to a mechanical Madonna if this female wasn't a _very_ large Decepticon.

"**Hestia** reporting for duty…to _CRUSH ALL YOU PUNY AUTOBOTS!_" The visor faced female growled at her newly gained audience.

No reaction.

Twin cannons calculate it's way out of her menacing arms.

"So run already…'cause I need TARGET PRACTISE! Cue the large land-clearing-kick-aft-artillery _BOYSSSSS!_"

The Decepticons automatically sprinted back to let the large gestalt female decorate the soles of her feet with Autobot carcasses, while Starscream stood preening herself on the newly formed gestalt's shoulder. Taking cover from the stray debris raining from all sides, Megatron's keen vision picked out a silver wing hiding behind Hestia's shoulder mounted guns, recognising the owner without her face or her keening voice, enthusiastically commandeer the Decepticon gestalt to destroy their enemies.

Starscream can be resourceful when she want to be. Or when she feels like it.

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"Crush them ladies! Run them to the ground below!"

'_Primus, I think Starscream's having more fun than us, sis!_'

'_Tell me about it. Can you FEEL her POWER-TRIPPIN' _aura_ right now?_'

'_Concentrate on your attacks. You both are our main artillery._'

'_Mom's gonna be SO proud! Wheeeee! This base is wicked…I feel so big…_'

'_I know I'm the foot, but there's going to be so much dirt to clean off later on…can we shoot them more?_'

'_As per Starscream's orders, we have to focus, or our combined formation will not hold. This form has not been tested for any glitches, and we have a time limit-_'

'_Focus…_'

'_Oummmmmmmmmm…._'

'_This Autobot's fingers are tickling me!_'

'_Aren't they like, under you already?_'

'_Boom boom boom, damn, they run fast-hey, we need some shivs! Got any shivs?_'

'_What's a shiv?_'

'_We're getting along just right…but, does that mean we're focused?_'

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Starscream couldn't have timed it better. The spontaneity of her new team chased both Autobots and Decepticons from the field, driving Megatron to the foot of a precarious mountain. The previous battles had taxed the Autobot's gestalts, and the others were too far to aid their human-loving, wheel-spinning comrades in this field. Hestia was comparatively light among the Transformer gestalts, but she was the fastest and her mental relays was not lagging like the rest, so she could be left to her own devices. But the fledgling gestalt still needed some supervision on her first run with the enemy, so the red seeker knew exactly what do.

"Hestia, watch out for any flying projectiles _to your LEFT-!_"

"WHERE?"

Using her automotive arm, the gargantuan Decepticon takes a fevered swing to her side, cracking the mountain top with the hilt of her energon dagger. At the foot of the same mountain the gestalt clumsily stumbled back into, stood Megatron and his warriors scattering like ants. Everyone was taking leave of the inevitable, and Hestia will soon disengage into five females. The ruby seeker discreetly warmed her thrusters, to leave her perch and take to the greying skies. Whether Fortune took sides with her treachery was of little concern to Starscream, who forgot to look back as she blasted off from the safety of the giant's shoulder. There were many more circumstances to steal Megatron's ruling position, so there was no need to make sure her plans were foolproof. Megatron was the fool, and that was enough proof she needed.

So why was her feet pointing at the sky, slowly drifting away from her?

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_**WARNING **_

_**WARNING **_

_**Low energon levels**_

_**Fuel reserves: 34.6**_

_Suggested disuse of secondary devices; stasis lock prevention **do not use-**_

_Stasis lock imminent-_

_Stasis lock imminent-_

_Stasis lock imminent-_

_Stasis lock imminent-_

_Stasis lock imminent-_

_Stasis lock imminent-shutting down primary systems-_

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The meeting of minds soon returned to each individual as Hestia divided herself, disconnecting the females to their respected forms. Dark optics caught sight of the gestalt team being equally efficient with withdrawal from the stale battle, and Megatron shared the same idea as with everyone else, until his optics found another dilemma falling from the skies. Survival of the fittest was a general belief under Megatron's rule, and abandoning fellow warriors was understandable; if a Decepticon could live another day to fight and **win** the battle previous unclaimed, their comrade's sacrifice would not in vain. General selfishness was another informal practise, and those who conquered this belief became the efficient master over those who were slaves to this principle. Starscream was obviously skilled in that area of conceit, having forgotten Megatron's precious spark resting inside her for a vainglory chance for leadership. So selfish was her actions, that she even jeopardised her own spark, literally giving herself to an untimely demise waiting for her at the end of her descent.

Megatron thought differently in this fleeing moment. Frenzied strides ended to launch the silver mech to the air, abducting an unconscious free-falling seeker into his arms. Taking another sharp turn as soon as he reached the ground, Megatron retreated into a grotto recently carved into the palisade, as luck had offered him amidst the skirmish. The tyrant mentally cursed at the circumstances, tasting the lingering similarity of the situation that was born, with the probable culprit being the femme con that lay in his arms. Diving into the cave, Megatron ignored the heavier debris pelting his feet, and rolled the female and himself away from the collapsing entrance. The belly of the mountain rumbled in discomfort at its inhabitants, ceasing its grumbling when all Transformers were driven away by its ill-omened thundering.

As soon as a clear line was available, Megatron opened his communicator to find the tape deck on visual, albeit a little warped by the static. Guessing by Soundwave's call, the Autobots would be miles away from the site, allowing his troops to make a clearing from the outside. Either they help him dig his way out now, or the illustrious leader of the Decepticons would go 'missing' for a few days, leaving his derelict army to run their own agendas. One concept based on this idea of deviancy was already unacceptable, and Megatron was somewhat thankful that Soundwave would consider verifying his presence before his death.

"Megatron," Soundwave called, betraying the monotony of his voice to relief. "Constructicons will be arriving shortly. E.t.a., three breems to excavate the mountain. Not advisable to use firearms within the mountain. Autobots retreated."

"Typical!" Megatron inadvertently chided his communications officer with the insult meant for their enemies, and shut his comm. link after his last order. "I'll be waiting, Megatron out."

But the vermillion jet was not that fortunate, as the aspen leader was too preoccupied with Starscream's treachery radiating from her unmoving body, even while she remained offline. Of course it was her plan all along. Who could churn out wave upon wave of 'grandiose' astrosecond-per-thought plans to his downfall and expect it to work? Restraining a habitual disposition, Megatron had to loosen his fingers itching around the neck of his second-in-command, one by one. It was deliciously tempting, but the life shining in the jet's chassis reminded him of her function in his personal life, and the tyrant took a dry victory to quell his anger by running a sharp slap across Starscream's cheek instead. He was going to give her more than a lame backhand when she left her slumber.

For now, Megatron had to bide his time, lazily staring at the gleam in Starscream's side. The spark's growth was becoming more prominent in his aerial commander, and Megatron had to admit it looked pleasantly healthy on the outside. Dim optics peered at the stalactites aimed at the recumbent Decepticon. Before Starscream could fuss to herself again, cold fingers piqued her senses back to reality, leaving her body to bring back a whole palm over her sides to stroke the developing spark. It felt…awkward. Starscream recognised the hand, but not the pleasing sensation from the touch. She found it gentle at first, but Starscream's memory banks quickly polluted her opinion and summarised it to be quite alien, snapping her reflexes wide awake. The red seeker struck the same probing digits over her body and attempted to twist them away, but Megatron responded with readiness at her defensive manoeuvre and pinned her wrists above her helmet.

"Just because you're bearing my creation…" Megatron breathed in a low growl, "…doesn't mean you aren't expendable."

"(…Bite me)." Starscream hissed in venomous retort. A pair of solid teeth lunged forward in a vicious movement to separate the seeker's lips permanently, but hers thinned to bear its own set with willing brass to return the favour. The heavier of the two pressed Starscream's wrists into the ground to hoist himself vertically, forcing a small yelp from the jet. Heavy feet paced around the cave in near darkness, with Megatron searching his vocabulary to expound the constant disruptions she layered his plans with. And he was running out of words.

The first angry question came with a coal black hand thrust in her general direction. "Why? _WHY_ do you choose to aggravate me over your petty games for conquest?"

"(Answered that one yourself, Megatron)," Starscream's optical sensors flickered between apathetic blinks. Having limits to her caustic remarks, Megatron stomped in to confront the maroon Decepticon, stopping to observe the jet scuffling into a sturdy corner. Balling into a torpid position, Starscream looked a stark contrast to her unreserved mordancy just seconds ago, and dimmed her optics offline. A humbled whirr from the female's systems was the only indication to Megatron that she was not falling into permanent stasis lock, reserving the energy from the fatigue that plagued her. The seeker was just too tired to function properly for the day as the sparkling was taxing her usual vigour. '_Is she online?_' Megatron tempted himself again to toss a decent beating at Starscream, if it could exorcise her treachery.

"Wake up, you useless female, and tell me how much energon do you have left." Her optics didn't glow to his reply, so she mumbled in her debilitated state. "(…Always useless to you…never happy…energon levels too low, but I can still hear you…slag…)"

"We will be free soon, so keep yourself online…I don't want you to die with that spark still inside your body."

"(So…I am useful…)" Starscream made a weak snort at that comment and hid further into herself. "(Megatron…)"

A talking female is a conscious female, and that was good enough for the tyrant. The aforementioned mech took a seat nearer to the femme con, so dialogue was easier for her.

"What." Megatron was not very fond of small talk, especially with the seeker in question. "(Do…do you know why I betray you?)"

"It's translucently obvious Starscream. Your mind has been clouded by your shallow conception of power."

"(…Power…is that all?)" It was Megatron's turn to scoff back at her. "You think you're cunning Starscream, but you're too selfish to see the bigger picture; that's why you keep failing, female. Your vision's too narrow, and you've forgotten everyone around you." Megatron quite liked Starscream in her current mood. He could reprimand her and she couldn't do anything but repeat his words like a castigated child learning her lesson.

"(…Forgotten…everyone…?)"

"There isn't much to you other than your yellow hide." But then again, Megatron did prefer a soldier with little background. He (or she) won't be laden with some kind of superfluous burden, that would instigate a soldier to build a history with the Decepticons, good or bad…

"What's that?" Megatron's words trailed off to the noise on the other side of the cave.

Drilling. And it got louder by the second. '_Finally,_' the tyrant stayed his optics to the light cutting the darkness, and the pulsations halted. Shadows ran past the miniscule holes on the other side of the cave, and a large red blur punched an opening for it to run into the cave, transforming mid-way to grab his weapon.

"Game's up, Megatron," Optimus Prime made his point, and so did his gun, aimed at the infuriated Decepticon. "_PRIME!_"

"And don't wear it out…" the Autobot truck narrowed the space between him and his archenemy.

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A/N: I had to cut the chapter short...or I'll trail off into oblivion. Going on a company trip soon, not like that's gonna impeded the speed it takes to write a fanfic with a straight mind :P Thanks again to ev'ryone for your reviews and support, it's greatly appreciated:DDD


	9. Chapter 8: Time Out II

**Chapter 8: Time Out II**

A/N: Sorry for the long update, there seems to be a problem with the last chapter, so I've reposted it again. Thank you to everyone who's helped me, reviewed and added me to their favs! I would also like to thank my younger sister who's proof reading the fic starting from this chapter and rechecking the past chapters, so they should turn out better; 'probably gonna revisit them to make amendments. At least now there is a third party checking it who (a) reads more books than me and (b) knows better. Thank you very much everyone!

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"So, what happened."

"Slag, that's what happened."

"No seriously, TC, 'Screamer always tells me what's going on first." Skywarp sat back in slight disbelief at the red seeker's change of bosom buddies. In spite of his arrant gossiping or, quote Soundwave, 'Skywarp's verbal exchange of information regarding and disregarding internal affairs', he hardly told anyone besides Thundercracker what the aerial commander chooses to tell him _first_. It took the indigo jet vorns of comity with the red jet to earn her trust, and another few years to learn when to not speak of her secrets, which is most of the time, every time.

Thundercracker leisurely skimmed through the data pad in his hands. "So she told me first. Big deal. Why don't you go ask her yourself?"

"I don't HAVE to ask her!"

"You wanna know?"

"Yeah-"

"So go ask her."

"No, no, you don't geddit-" The purple seeker's hands repeatedly pushed the air in disagreement with his blue counterpart's statement. "…If I get told somethin', I tell _you_. But if **you** get told something-"

"I shut my trap." The reflection of new facts ran itself on Thundercracker's optics as he perused the data pad.

"…Aawh, darnnit."

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"To think that you've sunk to this level, Prime-_URKH!_"

Megatron felt the ground leave his feet has the laser blast hit him squarely in the chest, sending the grey mech flying back into the cavity of the mountain. Brushing his hand over the darkened spot, the tyrant swept the flakes of ash shivering into the air, and took immediate aim at the Autobot leader. The foreboding charge from Optimus Prime's rifle complemented Megatron's cannon, growling equally for a vengeful reprisal. Neither would falter to the other…

…Until Starscream broke from the sombre obscurity, shielding the Decepticon commander with her body. Silver wings sheltered the silver mech, earning questionable looks from both leaders. Optimus Prime reserved himself from any action in his infinite patience, while waiting for the weak seeker's next move. Megatron looked flabbergasted at the lethargic female.

"(What are you doing?)" Starscream discounted her leader's remark and sluggishly dragged her body to turn and gaze at the vertical Transformer.

"(Optimus…)" she heaved, feeling her chest getting heavier with each strain. "(You won't hesitate to take a life of two Decepticons, am I right?)"

"Like the humans say, 'to kill two birds with one stone', Starscream." Optimus' gun shrugged lightly with his opinion. Aside from her haggard motions, the red Autobot did see something noticeably different about Starscream. "...Or to save a million innocent lives from the Decepticons. Although I have to say, what you've done here is something new."

A coughing rasp feebly echoed within the cave, and Starscream looked up from her chuckling. "(What about…three Decepticons…? Or, to be politically correct…)"

"(…Two Decepticons, and one…innocent…life…?)"

The last sentence from Starscream explained her latest deed to be, in every aspect, very much like herself. The aspen tyrant made no hesitation to lift them both from their supine position as comfortable as he could afford, and with little effort, aimed the barrel end of his cannon at his unborn progeny. A sharp prod from the black steel stressed the spark's existence, and Optimus could only watch in silence as his opponent gradually receded to the other end of the cave, where his army anticipated his emergence from the hollow. A few curious heads peeped from the light flooding from the entrance, and Starscream felt her lips curl into a flimsy smirk, before falling into stasis lock.

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"I _KNOW_ **that** part."

"Good."

"…C'mon TC!"

"I couldn't tell you more even if I could, other than the fragging obvious."

"So tell me the fraggin' obvious."

"Okay then."

"Fine."

"All right."

"Yeah, (tell me)."

"Hum."

"…Tell me already you slaggin' bucket of wasted AFT parts!"

"'Told you all that I know, 'Warp."

"...Slagging aft-faced bastard."

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"You never cease to amaze me, Starscream." The seeker continued filing her reports, while Megatron threw his questioning one-liners with little effect. When her optics flickered online in the med bay, Starscream received and resumed her duties in filial resolution, lacking the biting sarcasm and complaints that followed. It was as if the incident converted the female to a rigid vow of silence, which she fervently practised on the troops, her comrades, and her overall duties as an aerial commander. 'Speak when you're spoken to' was a principle she altered greatly, and Megatron was slowly exhausting his list of piquant remarks to throw at his second-in-command. At the end of the second week, the silver Decepticon found the peace too suffocating for his liking. And quiet was not part of her nature.

The older Decepticon tromped over to the seeker to observe her current work, a small excuse to hover over her indifferently when he was slightly concerned about her health. Was it the limits he imposed on the seeker? House arrest, weapons confiscation and the newly enforced energon rationing was a sound security plan for a femme con as notorious as her. Without jeopardising the spark's growth, these precautionary rules kept Starscream from any attempts to escape the Nemesis if she tried. Is she depressed? Will it affect the spark resting inside her? With his rigid schedule for the jet, it was a closest Megatron got to falconry, but instead of using a raptor, he had a recalcitrant sixty-foot F-15 at his disposal. The silver mech wouldn't know how to shoo the black cloud hovering over her head, but there was a remedy to solve his curiosity.

"What's wrong, Starscream," the pale tyrant's question did not sound as sympathetic as his words should be, but his stony disposition was already etched into his character. "Have I grossly upset you, or is this another phase in your state of gravida?" His aerial commander mulled in her respected silence over her data pad, nearly dismissing the mech's question if her equation over her work was more Gordian. After much contemplation, the female continued her other work, setting the data pad aside to gaze at the screen in front of her with deadpan enthusiasm. Megatron might have bellowed an order to get an answer to his question if his creation wasn't nestled in her systems, but in all his years of experience as a Transformer, Megatron did not want to see his offspring's spark literally pop out of a femme con in fright.

"…Starscream…" the aforementioned seeker heard her leader hiss a new threat into her audio receptor. "I _asked_ you a question…"

'_And I'm not answering it,_' she breathed a heavy sigh to herself. '_What's the point of living if-…what's the point of living. If I'm going to go soon, I might as well humour him._'

"…Yes, my lord."

"State the reasons to the cause of your depression." Starscream rotated her chair to look at the source of her misery with dimmed optics. "…What's going to happen after it is born?"

"Clarify your question, woman."

"Don't play dumb with me, you ignoramus."

"That was your tight-lipped game the whole week!"

"I'm going to be destroyed after it's been born, right? That's how you'd like me to be!"

"Thanks for the brilliant idea, I'll remember that for a near FUTURE!"

"I've done my loyal duties as a soldier under your forces, I've followed your shadow and kissed the ground you walk on, but your altruism does not extend to me? Bucket-headed-!"

"That's because your grovelling is pathetic, and does your vocal component come with any better insults, _Star_scream? I thought a bigger ego meant a bigger circuit board!"

"…Yes, it is pathetic. And I was sick of being pathetic for you. I'm sick of being obedient to you. I'm sick of being loyal, being faithful, being everything under your call! Everything I did for you didn't matter at all! What's a femme con to do when she's tried EVERYTHING in her arsenal, to prove her puny existence in the optics of her leader? **I've** become what you wanted me to be!"

"And THAT is why I should _terminate_ you!"

"GO AHEAD THEN! Take your best shot, right where our spark's at! That's not why I rebel all the time!"

"All the time is RIGHT! Why _do_ you rebel then?"

"Because I _**LOVE**_ _YOU!_!"

"I _KNEW_ IT!"

Megatron quickly lunges in for the kill, taking the battle with their tongues literally, only stopping to raise his lips from hers to throw in a grumbling comment.

"…And stop that pathetic snivelling. Do all females cry when this happens?"

"…I…I'm so happy-"

"What th' SLAAAAAAAAG-? WHO WROTE THE SCRIPT?" Skywarp lanced his arms out at the TV in front of him, as his blue counterpart shrugs nonsensically. "Maybe she's taking a chance to show our leader that she still cares…or maybe it's some form of redemption, or, or…why are we still watching this?"

"Be_cause_ TC, 'Screamer mentioned she gave the directors some ideas in exchange for some moolah. (Damn female, I want my royalties too 'con…)" Thundercracker made a thoughtful face and turned back to his comrade. "Do you think she's well, how do I say this, portraying her feelings onto the show? Soaps just exaggerate things, but is this what Starscream's _really_ thinking about?"

"Hmm, well ahhh…it _does_ kinda remind me of her when we were younger, but…that's when we didn't know better I guess." Skywarp gave his friend a deserved nudge in the wing. "You still haven't told me what happened between the two."

A childish frown gave way to Skywarp's visage when Thundercracker shrugged again. "I already told you 'Warp, I really don't know. You'll have to ask the lady con yourself, but I doubt she'll have much to say. It's her life, leave it be."

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In another room aboard the Nemesis, the same show was rolling its credits across a larger screen, being watched over by a pair of optics less tolerant of its existence. Megatron gave his second-in-command a heavy glare as she was organising her work into a neat pile of data pads.

"Is it true you've contributed to this absolute rubbish of a show?" the silver mech growled in slight disbelief. Starscream lazily continued her finger picking habit from the morning.

"And earning every credit, your lordship." Her usual scoff at her leader took a different turn since the incident. Lacking the connotation of fervent passion against her leader, Starscream's laced words were dry of its poison. Megatron was half-concentrating on what was playing two hours ago, but the shallow programme had its extensive truths, albeit the exaggeration of emotions. The highlighted fact remained that he never did give Starscream much respect for her contributions to his army, and with such scarce rewards for his troops in general, he made her look the poorest amongst her peers. Even Soundwave's cassettes gathered more praise in the past years.

"As if I should feed that massive ego of yours. I'd rather cover myself in energon chips and dive in a pool full of Sharkticons."

"There's a crateful in Storage Room 3 if you'd like to know." Time spent in the storage area was not wasted with the femme con, but Megatron decided to save that insult for the 'near future'. "Don't be such a spoilt child, Starscream. Why would you need me to remind you of your _seamless_ work performance? Letting you know of your mistakes is much more constructive than inflating that blimp you call a head, which has been a problem I've underlined eons ago."

"Give me more respect, and **maybe** I won't betray you as much as I do!" she snarled.

"You've improved SO much over the vorns, Starscream! And to think that you would selflessly jeopardise your spark and my child's own to save your beloved leader? Good JOB!"

"THANK you, your magnificence! **THANK** you for putting me under house arrest for all _those_ vorns that I've served under you! And to think that having my weapons confiscated isn't enough, I can't leave the room without you exiting FIRST now, _CAN I?_"

"Maybe I'm just concerned over your bumbling BUFOONERY over the last few months while you carry MY child, you've left me with LITTLE CHOICE!"

"Well, _OUR_ child's EXTREMELY, _**GRATEFUL!**_"

The duo stopped raising their voices to take notice of their bodies heaving with anger, the seeker looking more tired in comparison to her leader. Both minds raced feverishly to conjure the last words to end their argument, now brimming with familiar sentiment. Starscream mentally cursed to herself when Megatron activated his vocal component before she parted her lips.

"All that SCREAMING must make you HUNGRY!"

"OF _COURSE_ I **AM!**"

"THEN GO GET SOME ENERGON YOU STUPID FEMALE AND _GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!_"

Megatron's agitated scepticism grew to a tumultuous size when the female seeker in front of him started shaking…and crying. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to turn the only female in the galaxy capable of bearing his children, to gladsome suicide.

"For the _love_ of PRIMUS, WHAT'S WRONG NOW?" Megatron felt too self-conscious of the situation bearing similarities with the T.V. programme breems ago.

Of little concern to Megatron, Starscream mentioned it anyway. "My…my creator disowned me just yesterday…"

Repeat. T.V. programme. "So? I thought he disowned you before (and to think that he didn't do it eons ago)…"

"…No…That's the thing, I-…I didn't…not before I-" in-between uncontrolled sobs, Starscream drank her tears careening down her cheerless face. "Now, now, he-…he said that even if…even if I became what he would have been proud of, he wouldn't… he wouldn't take me back! I've never-! I've never…_NEVER_ cried to his stupid tune before, but-!"

Megatron was on the brink of going into stasis lock, if only to elude his aerial commander's outlandish behaviour.

"And you cry like this again BECAUSE-?"

"_BECAUSE YOU TOLD ME TO __**GO AWAYYYYY!**_"

On utterance of the last word, Starscream's body arched to meet the floor, letting her uninhibited tears drown her nasal component. The silver tyrant's worldly experiences rarely included an erratic female howling like a banshee, and Megatron had three choices: one, turn off his audio receptors and leave the room, so she can kill herself in the midst of her riotous manners. Two, cajole her capricious nature to vent on less arduous topics, like the non-existent stock exchange back on Cybertron, or three, bellow at her (with reason) until she clamps her mouth shut. Another quick and easy fourth option was to kick her cranium in hopes that her vocal chords would go offline with her cerebral circuits, but that could jeopardise the spark; so did option one. Not one to dabble in fictitious gambling, Megatron discarded options one, two, and four…after some consideration.

"Stop your BLUBBERING female! I _KNOW_ it has been very stressful these past few months-"

"_YA' __**THINK?**_"

Megatron had to shut his foot down before it met her face. "_**SHUT UP YOU PATHETIC SLAG!**_"

The red and pewter female heeded his orders after five solid minutes, tuning her wailing down to snorts, hiccups and other indiscernible sobbing. Megatron had to wait another astrosecond before he could hear his teeth bruxing again. Using his unburdened arm, the tyrant hoisted his aerial commander from her turtled position to meet him face-to-face.

"For all the military professionalism you possess, you _still_ break down into an unprofessional fit whenever things don't go your way! Our relationship in the past does not grant you any rights to take emotional liberties with me, female! And I may not know your creator as well as you do, but what he did was not to spite you entirely! As a Decepticon loyalist, it's only fair that he rids himself of unorthodox treachery such as yours!" The silver Decepticon's air vents churned violently in agitation next to the seeker's body, shaking piteously to her unbridled misery. A weak whimper escaped her lips as her head hung limply onto her own shoulder.

"…That aside, I don't think he knows what he's losing (other than a good audio session)," Megatron set the femme con down when her legs quivered for the solid ground below. "Counting your fortunes to your faults, I don't see a lot of intelligent females holding high ranks in the Decepticon army. Be grateful."

"…(Well…)" she quibbled. "…I-…I guess it's the spark I'm carrying…('feeling a lot different since-)…"

He couldn't believe it. In less than a quarter of an hour, Megatron had somehow managed to curb and survive the red jet's epileptic fits. An experience for keepsakes, surely. Megatron paced his room like an ambivalent child, before recalling his original plans for the day. He mentally sighed when he realised he cannot omit Starscream from it.

"The humans have created a new power plant roughly due north-east from our base. I was planning to send Laserbeak to gather more information on its physical geography, but your extreme state of 'cabin fever' has convinced me you need a breath of fresh air. As do I." Megatron marched to the door, grumbling under his breath.

"...(From you. Loopy female.)"

"I'm well overdue for my outies…" Starscream sniffed the last of her unhappiness away, and waited for Megatron to leave the room. "(…Stupid, 'I'm-Too-Handsome-For-Anyone' mono-browed monstercon-)"

"Did you say something, woman?" A sharp turn of his heel brought Megatron glaring back into the room.

"(Clomper-stomper-) Coming!" Starscream chirped awkwardly.

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A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long…I was having a reeeeally long mental block. And I'm also prone to being retarded at night, which is the only time I choose to write. Thanks again for your comments :D


	10. Chapter 9: Schadenfreude

**Chapter 9: Schadenfreude : Of Hawks and Eagles**

A/N: Just to warn y'all, this chapter is about a thousand words longer than the rest, wasn't keeping track of how much I've written :P

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"Three-and-a-half breems left, Constructicons. We have to get the C.R. chamber ready and waiting for it's coming." Green and purple limbs followed Scrapper's command, as the gestalt team worked their quickest to assemble the tube in a specially reserved corner of the medical bay, out of harms way from the other patients. Fortunately, the Decepticon troops have not encountered any battles outside their headquarters, and the skirmishes within their ranks were kept to a minimum under Megatron's totalitarian rule. Any bouts in the past used to be small matters of no importance, but now their leader has stretched the troops wavering patience for one another, and for two good reasons. The first was the need to conserve his troops for any 'unsuspected' arrivals. The second reason was to halt any more conflicts that would drive their leader insane, especially when there is a certain femme con, sitting in the driver's seat of his misery. It was easier for his Decepticons to quell the opinions of their peers with violent solutions, but Megatron's orders were absolute. If his soldiers weren't going to dance to the tune he's playing, they can dance to the laser fire from his fusion cannon.

And here she comes, the mother of his child, being chivalrously carried in his own arms.

Scrapper's visors reflected his leader's flurried stomping in his direction, and the gestalt leader involuntarily motioned to his team mates inside the med bay, giving away an even greater sense of urgency to come.

"Hurry! Megatron's coming with Star-" Megatron's shoulder silenced the Constructicon leader with a brutish shove, and the silver tyrant continued barking orders to the gestalt team half-gawking stupidly at the seeker in his arms.

"What are you waiting for, FOOLS? GET THE EQUIPMENT _READY!_"

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As Megatron's second-in-command, this was a rare moment when Starscream was not being yelled at first. A sardonic comment would have been offered by the female, if she wasn't unconscious and bathing in her own energon, unreservedly spilling out of every open orifice in her body.

Approximately two hours ago, Megatron inwardly sulked at the security brimmed around the new power plant. The humans with their primitive minds did not build the new plant in that location without his troops in mind, no; they had external help from those accursed Autobots, perusing the new location as additional security. Basic tactics were not enough to collect results from this station, but he will find a way. His enemies always had a glaring weakness that he could exploit, and they all came in small, soft bipedal forms, no taller than his knee. A fleeting shadow on the ground reminded the dictator that another one of his Decepticon seekers was casually gliding the skies, as he raised his head to spot a jet dancing in the light of the moon. Whipping the clouds into odd shapes, Starscream playfully rolled her wings into the clear, to catch the stars spotting the dark blanket over the Earth. Taking notice of her lord's scrutiny of her own being, the female gradually touched the same earth he was standing on, composing herself into her root mode.

"Having fun?" he quipped. Megatron thought he saw a kind face on his aerial commander, and confirmed it when she shrugged lazily.

"Yes…and feeling a little tired as usual. Have you taken the nearby village into account?" she sauntered in small circles. "The Autobots might be there too."

"Don't take me for some short-sighted fool, Starscream," Megatron harrumphed. "Judging by the size and the scarcity of humans, I don't think they would be visiting it anytime soon, so there would be minimal Autobot threats from that place."

"So confident, my _leader_. Let's go see. I bet there are Autobots rolling around on that part of this infernal mud ball." A kick start from their anti-gravitational thrusters sent the couple from one site to the other. Standing poised over a cliff face, the tyrant and his consort looked down on the humbly lit settlement, sorely lacking in Autobot protection.

"…I told you there were no Autobots."

"I know. I just wanted to look at the pretty lights." Starscream took a few more steps to gaze at the small town in quiet contemplation. Resting her finger next to her pouted lip, the maroon seeker mulled herself to a straightforward conclusion.

"This place sucks."

"And how. Humans and their primitive devolvement in the galaxy that surrounds them. If only-what are you doing?" Megatron's optics followed to the F-15 taking to the sky, which lanced back into the forest behind them. "Starscream!"

Scanning the flora behind him, Megatron's head snapped to the red blur shooting towards the settlement. What could she do to that town with no weaponry on her? The tyrant felt a small niggling concern etching itself in the back of his mind, if the seeker planned a kamikaze attack; he would not know until she swooped past a few buildings. Opening her compartment on the underside, the jet scattered a colourful array of organic debris collected from before, to rain upon a few prominent buildings with her nefarious cackling. This in turn produced a deep guffaw from the back of her leader's throat, as the pitiable humans ran amok for what was left of their shelter from the elements. The duo laughed even harder when she returned, admiring the cruel joke played on the tinier creatures, scurrying like frantic ants in the rain.

"There! MUCH better!" she sniggered. Megatron's optics flickered in genuine delight at the scene below him, mentally recalling his air commanders particular flight path. "S-Starscream! W-! Were you aiming at any specific building, or was it just a hilariously random attack?"

Pointing a blue finger to what used to be the tallest structure, Starscream noted for her leader. "That one is a religious building."

"Hmph. Their gods are no match for ours," Comparing the religious edifice to the smaller, uninspiring dwelling, Megatron's wordless questions did not remain unanswered by his second-in-command.

"And that one over there (that ugly, stupid low-looking one), is an orphanage."

"Unwanted pests," Megatron grunted.

"Schadenfreude," she prated.

"What does that mean?"

"It means a good feeling for us," she lowered her crowing to a soft croon. "Although, I still think it needs more lights…I even dropped a few rocks on that gas station, but it didn't-"

Before Starscream could finish her sentence, it was Megatron's turn to be youthfully impatient. Throwing his body into the air, the gun immediately took aim and deftly shot a blast at the human's habitat, creating a recipe for instant disaster. A heavy explosion violently tore into the gas station and the buildings closest to it, creating a domino effect of chaos. Bathing in the amber glow of the self-created bonfire, the couple felt pleasingly good inside.

"Well," Megatron stomped back onto the shared vantage point in his root mode, his chest puffed out in pride. "There goes the orphanage!"

"It's beautiful…" the femme con admired the creation of such devastatingly picturesque scenery. "I love it. All those little humans on fire…It just makes me feel all warm and tingly inside…"

"Literally," Megatron added. "We should be leaving very soon anyway. I don't need a bunch of Earth-loving idiots taking shots at my creation."

"Hnn," she murmured to herself. Enjoying the catastrophe slowly unpeeling itself right before their optics, the couple stayed their feet from retreating to a more discreet position. Lacking proper exposure since her spark's existence, Starscream felt a perverted elation at the charred scent of human calamity, wafting in the air; she didn't know her olfactory senses were so acutely tuned to her surroundings. Making a keen visual scan of his surroundings, Megatron surmised the Autobots possible reaction to what's left of the human's habitat. When the Autobots arrive, their first priority would be to evacuate the living humans from joining their lifeless counterparts. For the warlord's comfort, here was no harm lingering another astrosecond or two, to contemplate a possible future with his air commander.

"Who would have thought, that a seeker from the slums of Cybertron could bear the spark of a king?" Starscream shot a defensive look at her leader, louring as she hissed bitterly at his condescending tenor. "So I grew up in a land of _garbage_. Do I look like a Junkion to you?"

"Far from that, female," Starscream's initial reaction pricked the side of Megatron's lips to a cavalier smile. "Rich soil breeds rich individuals."

"I guess that makes you the richest, oh _wise_ and, NOBLE leader." The tyrant curtly grunted at her comment. "Most of the time. It's hard to find such prized individuals such as **you**. To lose something, or shall I say, some_one_ precious is a different matter, don't you think so, my little seeker?"

"Shut up, you jerk. If you're talking about Thundercracker, you of all Transformers should know that I've already lost him twice. It's bad enough that the only guy who loved you back, dies like any other brainless grunt in war. But when he comes back to life remembering nothing but his love for you, and you've moved on …" she paused. There was no use explaining an aspect of her life, which he already knew from their initial connections.

"I don't 'swing' that way, so I wouldn't know," Megatron scoffed. "But now that he's completely devoid of any maudlin feelings for you, I see no problem."

"(…I just don't like losing things, that's all…)"

A brief silence humbly returned to the air they loitered in once more. Megatron did have the experience of losing someone useful to his secondary needs, and Starscream was not the first female he tried to create a legacy with. '_But would she be the last?_' he wondered. He cherish her somewhat beyond the confines of their professional relationship, but her erratic betrayal to his cause carelessly brought about some enmity between them…and it was understandable. She did not breed her selfishness alone in this petty universe, and Megatron was one of the guilty who fed the naïve creature, to become the faithless beast that resided in her spark…conveniently next to his child's own.

A light graze from a pewter wing brought Megatron's attention back to Starscream, with her arms folded over her cockpit and her hands cupping her elbows. The aspen Decepticon recalled the female using her wings, inadvertently making passing gestures to his being when they were courting in the past. It was a habitual occurrence amongst seekers who bred familiarity with one another, and that concept remained fresh even in the war. Two strangers of their kind would not casually touch wings with one another unless they were forced into a military line, and after the formalities were over they would back away in slight offence at their like-bodied comrades. This queer notion was commonly practised by the seekers and no other winged Transformer alike, but Starscream's brusque gesture was not of a doting nature.

A dark finger traced the edge of her wings, prompting the female to turn her back to her leader, grinning with unspoken intent at her direction. "Why are you being so modest, female? Or are you just being a tease so I'll let my guard down?"

"I thought that was the mech's job to lull a female into some false sense of security," she said, tilting her neck to give Megatron a glance at her shrewd smile. A small huff escaped her lips, and she leaned her head to the other side in feigned vacillation.

"Don't play games with me, Starscream. I know what you want."

"Are you just making me _think_ what you want me to think?" Starscream placed her finger closer to her lips, while her leader brought himself closer to her. "And I thought you like playing games."

"I don't like games, woman." A large black hand grabbed her wrists, pulling the femme con abreast with its owner. "I like the chase."

"And I just don't like losing things…" her optics followed the back of his hand as it stroked her visage with a foreign gentleness, drawing to close his fingers on her chin.

"Right now, you've nothing to lose."

"…A-…Are you sure...?" The recognisable quiver of trepidation shot through her systems, which did not go unnoticed by the mech. It was something he revelled in, and they both knew what pleasures of joy that fear could bring to satiate his appetite. At such close proximity, Starscream could not hide her consternation or stop her body from shaking, so she took childlike logic to her solution and closed her eyes. Megatron bared his teeth in a hungry smile as he felt her trying to shift away from his piercing gaze, the ruby glow carving along her exterior like an invisible knife. He liked what he was looking at, and she looked helplessly pathetic. Not that he wanted to protect her in a stereotypically masculine fashion, but her defenceless state seemed to bring some unexplainable mirth to his spark.

"(…I-…I don't want to die…)" she whimpered. "(Please…please don't kill me, Megatron…I…I won't ever-…)"

Excessive begging did put him off though. Starscream had to be the wet blanket to all his personal merriments.

"You're not going to die after you give me my child, female." A sliver of light peeked from her visage, before Megatron's optics caught his aerial commander reposing herself in muted relief, but her voice still betrayed her anxiety.

"Are…you-…you're joking? I mean, you-" Starscream felt his large fingers leave her chin to pinch her cheeks, pursing her lips like a gormless fish.

"Are you thick, you one-dimensional femme con?" he gave her head a slight shake. "Why would I want to lose such a 'valuable' commodity to my cause?"

"…Idiot…" loosening his grip to give his aerial commander a more dignified expression, Megatron reverted back to his usual grimace of near indifference.

"…So…what now?" she murmured with feigned innocence.

"Why don't you shut your optics and take a guess?"

Starscream did not have to be told twice, neither did she have no qualms about following this order…until she felt a large pair of hands wrench her body away from the silver metal. The seeker's vision caught a fiery shot, whizzing past her head as the Decepticon tyrant sent a few of his own to the Autobots at the base of their viewpoint. The F-15's face now burned with livid rage at the couple below them. How DARE they-! How DARE they ruin a beautiful moment for her! The fire! The burning humans! It was all, so, _PERFECT-!_

"DIE AUTOBOTS-"

"…SLAG**YOU,**_** ALLLL! **__DIEDIEDIE__**DIEDIEDIEDIE!**_"

Megatron halted his lines as his partner screamed the same words back at their enemies, but with more wanton passion than a legion of battle-hungry troops. Wasting no time with feminine etiquette, the femme con spanned her elegant arms around as many trees as she could accommodate, and with profound strength born from fury, uprooted them all single-handedly from the ground they take nourishment from. The tyrant almost paused his cannon when she used said trees to bombard the equally stunned Autobots, taking cover from her temper unleashed. Finding advantage in the confusion, Megatron transformed into Starscream's eagerly waiting hands. Holding the greatest living weapon on Earth after months of being unarmed, Starscream tightened her knuckle joints and fired unreservedly at the fleeing Autobots, taking her last shot at the cliff. Loosening the soil to send forth a devastating landslide, Starscream glided into the air in small triumph, until she felt her leader tremble in her hands.

The Decepticon ruler nimbly twisted back into his original form to seize the femme con for his fitting reward, drifting above the carnival of perfected pandemonium. He thieved her body as she clutched his before, to crush her in a vice and commit their own vices. Both Transformers liberated each other of the air in their mouths like wolverines to their own carnality, clawing and biting to slake their desires. Her slim frame wilted in his solid arms after a moment that felt longer than it would, her head sliding from his chin to rest on his shoulder. Megatron loosened his embrace of the female when her frame sunk in his grip. Starscream's thrusters weren't carrying her own weight in the air anymore, and her optics faded to black.

"Th-…the spark, it-…it-" Megatron swiftly threw her legs over his free arm, taking cue from her declining power. "(…It wants out…)"

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Which brings the tyrant back to the base, covered in energon not of his own. The mad rush back to the Nemesis would have taken longer, if Starscream's personal entourage was not present to defend their leader. '_Those flesh-loving Autobots always come back with reinforcements when they've been temporarily cured from their pacifism_' he cursed. '_If only they can realise OUR birth-right, to rule and conquer _inferior_ beings!_'

Zealous limbs in panicked symphony laboured feverishly on the supine seeker, plugging and pulling an array of tubes being stabbed and reconnected into the female's system. The Constructicons were the Decepticons general medical team by default since their entry to Earth, and no one under the energy scalpel doubted their technical knowledge. They are qualified in Transformer anatomy in academics and experience, but to put facts straight, they weren't midwives. Creations were either factory or hand made, and only an island of seasoned veterans of life have _seen_ a naturally created spark; the spiritual and functional synchrony of two different life forms to grow a new independent life form, was an ultimately different matter.

Megatron had rare chances to make that achievement, and his spark was now destroying the host it resided in. The sound of a shattered cockpit broke the mania, before melting into the erratic light with the searing red metal. A shrill cry broke from Starscream's wet vocal chords, prompting one of he Constructicons to force her head to the side, in case the seeker choked on her own energon and clogged her ventilation system.

"Why isn't the spark in the C.R. chamber yet?" the green gestalt team did not respond to their leaders bellow. "_SCRAPPER!_"

Scrapper almost missed his leader's voice if Megatron was not standing in front of him as he ran by. "My lord, the spark was not able to find an alternate source of energy to develop it's core processing unit, so it's assimilating itself into Starscream!"

The Constructicon leader switched glances between his rushing team and the angry glow from the tyrant. "Megatron, their systems are incompatible! Both Starscream and the child are going to destroy each other if we don't get it out in time!"

"…_WHAT_ _ARE YOU GOING TO__** DO ABOUT IT?**_" Scrapper leapt at his leader's words being spat onto his face.

"We've going to try and force the spark to take it's place in the C.R. chamber!" Scrapper stopped activating his vocal component when Megatron leaned over his frame, rapping their foreheads together.

"YOU ARE _NOT_ GOING TO 'TRY', SCRAPPER! YOU ARE GOING TO **DO** IT, OR FORFEIT YOUR _LIVES_ IN THE _**PROCESS!**_"

"Scrapper! The connection is complete!" Hook quickly interjected into Megatron's death threat, before the silver Decepticon decided to list the names of their gestalt team mates. Starscream's body leapt to the high voltage charge clawing through her system, but her mind was already in stasis lock. By sending a bout of stinging jolts through the red seeker, the Constructicons were hoping that the spark, unable to withstand the pain, would dash from it's mother to the C.R. chamber, using the connection bridged between them to take residence in its proper place. Refusing to abdicate from the female's body, the tiny life snapped jarringly at the Constructicons, caving in a larger hole within Starscream's chassis to sustain it's own life. This was the first time Megatron disliked to see his second-in-command undergo torture of such a high degree.

The next surge forced the Transformers within the room to shut their optics from the searing light, and the tyrant saw it. Buckling under the strain, the female awoke to greet the agony pulsating through her body, and stared with muted shock at the face of her child's father. Her defeated gaze sent a strange sentiment through the aspen Decepticon, and in response, he steeled his own countenance at her piteous state. The weak gleam from her optics flickered off when the next jerk raked through her body, and all hands stopped the operation. Looking up from his aerial commander, Megatron found the cause of the gestalt team's halted motion. The same aquatic light that tormented its creator, stretched new wires into a recognisable frame that would become a nervous system in due time. Occupying a small area in the cryogenic tube, the spark shuddered in small protest at the previous maltreatment, bathing in the liquid that would also be it's source of nourishment.

"…It…it is done, lord Megatron." Hook spoke in a tone, lacking his usual condescendence. All optics gradually shifted from the spark to their leader, and for a rare moment, Megatron had no further orders to bark at his troops. The gestalt team followed Megatron's blank gaze from the spark to the wet mess below him, all optics aimed at the still female. Megatron broke the silent scrutiny, when he espied the dry energon drip connected to Starscream's fuel pump.

"…What's keeping her alive?"

The Constructicons stared dumbly at their leader, transfixed at his sharpened optics seething into a white glow. Sending a black fist into the nearest wall, Megatron reactivated the team into a hectic blur. The Decepticon leader relaxed his glare when the seeker's condition was amended, as Scrapper announced.

"Starscream's weak, but she's stable. We'll monitor her systems personally before her body can be placed into a C.R. chamber."

"…(Good)."

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'_M-….my spark…my-…_'

"…Spark…?"

A small light glazed her tired body with a warm sheen, floating in the darkness. Blue fingers twitched, noting the slight discomfort raking her internal systems, her body shell sticky from the dry energon. Even lying motionless made the room spin, with the small glint being the centre of focus. She had to get up…see her spark. One pale foot shifted groggily before its twin followed suit, crumbling towards her creation. Starscream's hands made a satisfying click when she rested the flat of her palms onto the lucent glass, separating the female from her newborn. Unable to support herself vertically on the C.R. chamber, Starscream's knees plunged to the ground, obeisant to the vessel like a worshipper to its god.

"…Spark…sph-…uh…" she staggered, straining to enkindle the red vigour in her optics. After managing to turn her optics online, she saw the same serene luminosity tan her face. Recognising Starscream's presence, the spark drifted nonchalantly to swim downwards, meeting her fatigued expression. With her head swaying cumbersomely and her body throbbing gallingly, the femme con concluded that she must have been severely shocked some breems ago, addled by the involuntary twitching. She was not sure, but then her arms started taking a life of its own, rising above her head to pluck her hands away from the glass. Starscream mouthed a soundless objection, what with a new pair of hands carrying her body away from the floor to the recharge berth. Starscream cast a childish smile on her face when she lay back, identifying the stranger's silhouette outlined by the lambent brilliance of her creation.

"(Rest now, Starscream)."

'_I…go through…hours of pa-…pain…and that's all you say-…uh…_' Starscream stopped her mental griping when his hand brushed the side of her helmet, caressing her cheek.

"The spark will be transferred to my personal quarters in the later part of the day, for security purposes. For now, I want you to concentrate on your recovery."

The mech paused from leaving the room, when he felt a slim hand cup his fingers.

"…(D-…don't… leave me)…" she pleaded. "…(Stay a while)…"

"There is a raid to be conducted in three astroseconds, Starscream," he stated flatly.

"…(Okay)…" her voice fell to a sad whimper, before he sealed her lips with his own. Megatron raised his head when she half-coughed, half-chuckled.

"(Back then…when we were looking at…that village… you made me pop a spark…)" she whispered. "(…That was one…knock-out kiss…!)"

"(Huh)…silly female…" Starscream lingered back into stasis lock, when the exit faded to a thin white line.

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A/N: Congratulations! It's an alien death killing machine! I would have posted this fanfic up a few days ago if my sister proof-read it earlier…but thanks again! Goin' on holiday, coming back on the 11th…don't expect any updates soon!


	11. Chapter 10: Afterburner

**Chapter 10 : Afterburner**

A/N: Due to her busy schedule, my sister won't be beta-reading as much as I like her to be, so expect more mistakes :'[ Oh! Oh! Thanks to everyone for the favs, alerts and reviews!

Note: B.F.G. big fookin' gun

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…_No data found…_

…_-…_

…_Password accepted. Play message?…_

"Okey-dokey!"

…_Reduce visual image by : 56…_

_To my beloved,_

_This may not come as a surprise to you, as you've noticed the less frequent visits to our usual rendezvous point, but now it's time to make it official between us…_

_There is no **US**. Not anymore._

"…Oh, snap…"

_If you're gaping right now, I don't believe it either…you know it's bound to happen. We were using our relationship to siphon info from one another, but we've been loyal enough to our respected factions…kinda. Well, don't act surprised._

_Optimus Prime might have mentioned it to you, but I'm carrying a spark belonging to a certain mono-browed Decepticon-_

"…No, he hasn't…"

_-And now that it's born, I'm back in service. Yes, the spark's existence was never mentioned outside the Nemesis, not even in small talk. I think your CMO would know more…he inspected my circuits when I was kept in those 'yellow bricked' prisons you Autobots have in the Ark. All golden and shiny. Ahem, anyway, none of the Decepticon troops knew about it's presence until was so obvious, so that makes…(Ratchet, is it?) The _first_ Transformer to know of my little 'secret'. If this is big news to you, don't worry. In a cycle or so, Megatron will enlighten the rest of the Transformer population of __**MY**__ pride and joy...not with _too_ many horns a' blaring, F.Y.I. He's not one to place such extravagance on his first spark._

_But now that I have a lot more things to deal with right now, I don't think I can accommodate you on my 'to-do' list anymore. I know what we had together was fun, really, but my spark belongs to someone else now. Not out of force, I can tell you, and-…well, I don't know. Call it whatever you want, give my sentimental garbage some _jive_ label. _Look_. I won't waste your time anymore, and neither will you. No point lying about something, that-…Primus, I've never done this before. Let's just say, if Megatron never existed, our relationship might have lasted longer…if you wanted it to. I presume I would…? But Megatron's part of my life beyond our professional relations, doi. It's bound to happen! Do you know the troops have been taking a poll to see how far my relationship with him will go? It's not funny, but I bet you're laughing right now…_

"Yes I am!"

…_So, I guess this is the last message you'll ever receive from me of this nature. I __**still**__ can't come out of the Nemesis until the next _millennia_ of medical check-ups, but, if I could, I wouldn't be sending messages like this. Not because I'm a good girl, you stupid mech creature! It's called common courtesy. Well… next time I see you, you'd better be ready, or I'll shoot you first._

_Good bye for now, 'angel cakes'._

…_Replay message?…_

"...Goodbye, angel."

…_Invalid command. Replay message-?…_

"Silly thing," a black hand clipped the video recorder shut, and with one healthy swing, tossed the small device into the air. Upon reaching a needed height, the mechanical contraption shattered into tiny fragments from it's original form, tossing and turning in the white sunlight to become smaller, more detailed pieces. A foreign gunshot interjected the first gun's purpose, reducing the recorder into metallic sprinkles glistening back down to earth. Pale blue visors reflected another Autobot companion, materialising from thin air within a golden-lined box guarding his frame.

"Hey 'Raj," Jazz gave a lesser smile than his usual cheeriness. "Heard it all?"

"Yeah," the Ligier cooed understandingly and tread up to the saboteur, taking a seat on the rocky outpost. "How'd you feel?"

"Down, but not out of the game, baby," Jazz's last comment placed a humble smile on his friend, and the Porsche unceremoniously dropped his rump next to the Ligier. "…'Can imagine the look on Cliffjumper's face if he found this little love note, though."

"Can you?" Mirage turned to his companion with a gentile smile. Jazz held a contemplative pause to look at the open plains.

"'Now that I've completed my list of **all** known traitors in alphabetical order, I can finally get my B.F.G. back from Optimus Prime! Starting from zero-!'" the saboteur waved his arms like a pair of wild flags, battering the breeze in mockery of the minibot, sending the spy into a bout of stitches. "He's not _that_ bad, Jazz!"

"Yeah, I know," the Porsche settled his actions. "Just that stint with you and him some time ago got me thinking..."

"Have you told Optimus yet?" the French car enquired.

"Nope."

"Hound?"

"Why?"

"Prowl?"

"Did he ask?"

"No-"

"Okay then," Jazz turned away and continued to gaze lazily at the rocky landscape, with the wind sweeping dust into a spontaneous dance. With feet tucked to his body, the spy poked a finger into the ground, drawing circles around the sand mixed with bits of their previous shooting target. "I think Prime should know sooner or later, Jazz. The information we got from her before was useful, but its merits gets smaller as time goes by…no offence."

"None taken, 'Raj my bot. So…" Jazz looked at his sun-tanning companion. "What do you think of that soundtrack I gave you last night? Listened to it yet?"

"Oh…oh! Ah, Dean Martin sounds okay," Mirage trailed off. "…Sounds…pretty good in fact…"

"…Nice to listen to your own voice, huh?" taken aback, the Ligier flashed a befuddled expression at Jazz. "…Is that why everyone keeps calling me 'the big Dean Martin'?"

"Pro'ly so! Or 'Martinirage'," Jazz was quite unsympathetic to the enlightened Autobot, having understood his new moniker around the Ark. "…You're horrid when you're heartbroken, Jazz."

"Don't look at me, I prefer the good ol' 'Raj, any day-!" Jazz's internal alarms clicked in reminder of the saboteur's next shift. Standing up, the Porsche gave his friend a keen slap on the back.

"See ya later, 'Raj-_WHOOP!_" the duo quickly made an arm link when the Ligier almost fell off the vantage point, carrying a deep frown to go along with his near-miss to misfortune. "Is this supposed to be a bad week for me, or is this some kind of conspiracy?"

"Maybe everyone just wants to know the real 'Raj," Jazz pulled the rest of the spy to safe ground.

"Well, if this is how everyone's going to do it, I might as well-"

"Disappear?"

"…Hello? 'Raj? …Oh well."

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It was beautiful…whatever her child was going to be. She could already see the veins of it's basic endoskeleton branch out of the core, drawing an outline of it's frame. It's pending size was easy to cradle in her arms, sporting the deep blue wires of a sparkling. '_Megatron would be somewhat disappointed_', Starscream thought. New troops were usually born as adults, vigilant, prepared for combat, and unquestioning to the moral compass of Megatron's political actions, as soon as they left their creator. Not diminutive in stature (with some exceptions), defenceless and lacking weaponry. Not with big, lustrous optics, tiny rounded fingers, and dimply cheeks with no end to their infinite questions. Starscream left herself daydreaming in front of her creation, when a violet seeker warped himself into the med bay, staring at his aerial commander hugging her own body and mumbling to herself. Again.

The femme con's lips quibbled to the thought of her pride and joy being the most wonderful, well-formed spark that has ever touched the universe, and Skywarp spotted the goofiest grin he had never seen on Starscream before, matching the glazed look she wore for the past astrosecond.

"(…And it's going to be so cute with it's big _cute_ optics and-! It **must** have wings! _Cute_, little, seeker _wings!_ Tiny, little _seeker_ _**jets! **__Eeeeeee!_)"

"Hey Starscream wassup-"

"**HOLY** _**PRIMUS**_ _WHO THE __SLAG__ IN THE WHAT PIT__**-WAAAAAAH!**_" The red jet jumped half her height from Skywarp's unsuspected 'sneak attack', turning around to gnash at the face of the culprit, who was (almost) wholly innocent for the first time.

"STUPID-! _MORONIC-!_ PTKH-!_ YGHTH-! _**GAAAAAHHH!**" Starscream grabbed the sides of her helmet. "What's _WRONG_ with you?"

'_I bet her head would get stuck in the ceiling if she jumped higher,_' Skywarp wished as much, wincing at the onslaught of spit flying out of her clapping jaws.

"What's wrong with _you_?" he retorted. "I was just checking to see how our little guy's doin', that's all, and well, you, (you look fine)."

"Well, I _am_ fine, and I'm going to be even better when I get my null rays back-" she paused, absorbing her wingmate's last comment. "Who said it was male?"

"I dunno. Maybe…(I dunno). Oh yeah, TC's out on patrol so he told me to go check on you when you wake up and I'd do that myself but you know…" a cheeky grin spread itself across the air commander's face.

"Awww, he's just sick of taking care of your stupid aft!" said Starscream, catching the purple seeker off-guard.

"Yeah, well-! Con_graaaa_tulations Starscream, you can make sparks, just like all the other females!" Purple hands trapped the femme con in their grasp, and Starscream excused his overfriendliness for this moment.

"…We didn't think you'd wake up (you were out for days…!)" Skywarp's voice betrayed a sad cry to his firm embrace around the red seeker, who patted her purple comrade's dark helmet in consolidation. "There, there, Skywarp, big ol' Megs and my metal-melting spark's not gonna get rid of me that easily!"

Skywarp's opinion was muffled into her shoulder, but she knew they both had carried the same sentiment to the subject. Raising his head from his superior, Skywarp's visage gave away to a more light-hearted expression.

"You know, you're like the hot little sister I've never had…"

"…_Uuuuuh_-huh."

"…And now she's awl _gwown __**up!**_" Starscream failed to comprehend Skywarp's words, but she did stop him from hugging her again to compliment his preceding thoughts. "…So, what did I miss?"

"Well…" he tapped his chin with his finger, if it helped him think. "Mega-Cannon-Up-Our-Caboose wants to know whether you're able to make a quick raid on an oil derrick with us, so you can refresh your battle leetness back into shape (if you can't then it's okay-)"

"I **can.**" Starscream reaffirmed her active participation in the future.

"…Great! You go girl! Whoo-hoo! (Grrl power, whoo-) Anyway, also, there's a BIG pile of work on file for you, just go geddit from Megatron after the raid, and then hand in your evaluation of your performance with ours _including_ the results of the energon collection and collect the _other-_" Skywarp stopped running his vocal processor when she started hers.

"You're just making it sound bad so I don't have to stress so much later, hmm?"

Skywarp nodded gaily before continuing.

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"Congratulations commander Starscream, it's a Megababy! Does it have his eyebrow?" Starscream narrowed her optics at both twins sitting in the command room of their mobile base. '_Those two need to be _raked_ upside the head with some military professionalism_,' Starscream concurred her thoughts.

"Shut up, Rev. And nothing out of your sister either; when one acts stupid, the other confirms it," a sharp blue finger wagged itself in the automobiles' direction, and the sisters frowned in unison. "From this day forth, you are now all official troops of the Decepticon army, as conferred by Megatron himself, and my personal entourage."

"Thank you, commander," four voices chimed to the promotion, save for one.

"Haven't we been playing bodyguard for the past…I dunno, since we've worked here?" Celerate asked with a defiant pout.

"Once again sisters, if you have nothing productive to contribute, shut, the pit, up. Consider yourselves _very_ lucky that you're under my direct command, and not our less tolerant leader. Let me remind you all that if **any** of you decide to play 'Miss-Know-It-All', or forgets when play-times over during our military assemblies, I will personally see to your 'general reformation'. Am I understood?"

"Yes, commander," all females chanted together, leaving Rev to trail off meekly at the end.

"Now!" said Starscream. "Where were we. There is a dual raid to be made at point 376. Lightburst, scout. Tank Girl and the 'Wonder Twins', rock and roll (and load the damned cubes). Midnight, back up."

"Boss lady, question. Why is Midnight always 'back up'?" Rev pointed an accusing finger the darker seeker, who jerked back at the former automobile's forceful question. "I never see her do anything since that time we transformed into Hestia-you know what, I've never seen her transform into anything other than a leg! Isn't she a seeker, just like you? Seeker's fly in their **jet** mode, right? And-_AAAIEEEE!_"

All optics drew to the trail of smoke folding from the null ray, and the aggravated female armed with them. Celerate did her best to prop her sister back onto the chair, and the red jet continued.

"…I hired you all for a purpose, and that purpose is to SERVE your bloody purpose. Oh, don't worry Celerate, your silent sister's still mentally functioning…a much better improvement since the last few **seconds**." Starscream waved her arm whimsically at the twins, and started pacing the room with a clear echo to her feet. Stopping at the other seeker occupying the room, Starscream leaned over her like a black umbrella, in an intimidating, yet slightly protective fashion.

"Don't let her outer shell fool you all, because my little friend here can't transform into a jet."

The air commander waited for everyone's reaction to die down. "Ooh, oh no, really? GASP! Well, no surprise to me. You see, Midnight was part of a project to create another gestalt team, and her alternate combiner mode was already preset to merge and accompany her soon-to-be-made team mates. Being impossible for her creator to complete due to, ahem, _difficult_ circumstances (being his incompetence overweighing his intelligence), the project was abandoned, and Midnight (_poor _thing), was abandoned with it." Starscream patted Midnight's shoulder in false consolidation, sounding a practical rap across the conference room.

"My dear, if you're wondering _why_ you can't transform it's because, your creator was supposed to set your alternate mode be_fore_ your gestalt form. Alas, he didn't, and the programme has already been written into your spark." Starscream let go of the chair the ultramarine seeker was sitting in, to make another revolution around the females again; Midnight's hands rested obediently on her lap, as she sniffled to the warm fluid running down her face. Lightburst privately admired her modest show of vulnerability to the rest of the Decepticon females.

"…A Transformer who can't transform." Tank Girl finally spoke. "A tragedy, but-"

"-But a miracle!" Starscream confirmed. "See, for her 'handicap', Midnight has learnt a lot of things to compensate for her shortcomings, compared to _you_ two."

Celerate refrained from making a face when her sister was reclining on her shoulder.

"Everyone who's done their share of fighting should know by now that Midnight's an excellent medic in field injuries. Those who don't _obviously_ haven't been contributing _enough_ to our cause to be under her extensive care; _and_ she's a good cook…even better than our domesticated sisters, I should say. (Too bad for the big boys fighting without us). Oh, oh! And as much as I love to hear myself talk, here's an important lesson for you all!"

The table shook as an aggressive blue fist punched it's now dented surface. "How many females are there in the army, girls? How _many?_ One, two, three-four and five-FIVE! **FIVE **_**OFFICIAL**_ females in the army amidst THOUSANDS of knuckle-dragging MECHS! That's only the Decepticons ladies! Megatron _never_ gave us a chance, and the thought of a femme con team would have never crossed his bucketed cerebral circuit board! Why? Who knows. Maybe we're only good at crying and looking pink."

All females waited for each other to make or cause a reaction, cave for Midnight who hastily cleaned her face. Starscream started first.

"Well, I'm not _bloody_ **PINK!** Elita-One can be pink, Arcee can be pink-_Lightburst _is pink but if you cross her she can and _will_ BLOW YOUR SLAGGING HAND INTO CYBER FLEA-SIZED PIECES! I formed this group to extend your talents and abilities, and as a minority we have to work together! Our group will grow bigger in due time, but if you want results, you'll have to be patient. If you want to have more female comrades to watch your back, you'll have to work hard. If you want more rights, you'll have to prove to everyone else that you're worth these rights. And if you **don't** want me _wetting_ your faces with my spit as I scream this message across to you all _**you'll**__ have to work TOGETHER! __**UNDERSTAND-?**_"

"YES COMMANDER STARSCREAM! FOR THE GLORY OF THE FEMALE DECEPTICON ARMY!"

All legs stood to salute to their commander and her arresting diction. Starscream's screeching died down to a breathy word.

"…Good. Now, at point 367-"

"376, mum."

"-At point 376…"

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"I see the female gestalt's performance has improved greatly since their previous battle," Megatron turned to the piquant seeker, who let a purple wave unfold with a sharp whip of her arms. When he ordered her to prepare his regal cloak for attire, Starscream did so, but with wordless protest. Plastered with a grimace blacker than Megatron's hands, Starscream clamped the shoulder guards into place with a solid click and brushed the material to smoothen the folds, which in turn ironed away the creases she wore on her face. Gazing at his reflection, Megatron's scrutiny stopped at a pair of wings hovering behind his back, as slender hands made long, careful strokes to ripple the purple cape. Watching his three-pronged crown float clumsily above his helmet, the Decepticon ruler turned around to focus on the seeker holding said item at arms length. Dark hands plucked the crown from her slim fingers to drop it on the seeker's unsuspecting head, and Megatron observed his aerial commander adjusting it's placement unsuccessfully, as the crown jestingly leaned to one side of her head.

"It's a little big," she stated flatly.

"Too bad," said Megatron, and the crown returned to it's owner, having the honour of sitting higher than this distinguished being. The femme con pretended to discount the tyrant's crass words, concentrating more on his cloak circling her front, and Starscream let her leader pull her closer to his chest.

"This thing is too old…I should get a replacement," Megatron hinted, devaluing his attire with a whimsical flick of the wrist. "Wouldn't it look nice on _you_ instead?"

Starscream shrugged with a breathy huff and a crooked grin. "Don't be so mean, or I might be wearing my OWN royal colours. Permanently."

"Oh, I'm _terrified_," Megatron roughly pinned the seeker to rest on his body, until her wings bent against his frame in slight discomfort. "Duplication of my royal cloak and crown is not advisable."

"Tell me about it. Instant death sentence, anyone?" Her leader took her comment as a joke and let out a grated chuckle, but Starscream was not laughing at the underlying rule. In fact, her face took a questioning frown, her lip half-pursed and half-pulled by an invisible hook, which warped her mouth to a slanted pucker. Going against his accustomed behaviour, Megatron's hands playfully circled her body, coiling his now unfastened cloak around her shoulders and her wings in an outlandish act. An unwillingly participant in Megatron's boyish depiction of modern art, Starscream shimmied her mouth out of the cloth to look a little worryingly at the tyrant and his mental health.

"…This-! Pfft…(mmph)…is not-…(can't get out)…" Starscream closed her mouth, when a strong hand rotated her cheek guard to face the mirror.

"Knowing the rules, can we say that this is the only Decepticon regal cloak that exists?" Megatron asked, and Starscream nodded enthusiastically.

"As far as we know my lord, there can only be one…" Starscream's cranial circuits started working faster. "Are you saying that there can be more-?"

"More, without subverting to treason," the couple looked at their reflections, cast upon the uninterested mirror. Megatron's double started moving his mouth. "…Maybe two."

"But-! That's-!" Starscream stopped when the cloak cheekily scaled her helmet, polishing the metal at the same time. The Decepticon aerial commander thought she was confused at first, but now she was totally perplexed.

"Maybe, the duplicate would look a little different…" Megatron found small difficulty in loosening the cloth around her head, wrestling with the knot he made when he snaked the cloak around the hapless female. "Maybe-…(got it), to escape technical legalities, it would be a little shorter (like this), and with a little hood (like this)…what do you think?"

Starscream gaped at her reflection, and if it was alive, the visual echo would be in the process of laughing itself to death, ravelled in it's own tangled mess.

"'What do I think?'_ Well_ my lord, if you're asking me what _**I**_ look like, the word rhymes with boron…" Starscream's expression grew heavier, and that was excluding the creases in-between her optics.

"Is it legal?" he asked again, and she amused him further with her own brand of misery and self-pity.

"As a fashion victim, _no._"

"Dear female, you're so short-sighted," the tyrant adjusted the make-shift hood with uncommon gentleness. "Putting aside everyone else's doubts, there is a way for two to exist without lawful prosecution."

"Stop playing your stupid games and tell me-…" Starscream swallowed her words, upon revelation of her thoughts finding reason within his words. Megatron continued to knot the cloth at his leisure, until it formed a veil modestly covering her dark helmet.

"To have a queen to call my own…" he trailed off. "…What do you think of that now…?"


	12. Chapter 11: New Wings

**Chapter 11 : New Wings**

A/N: Just found out what a cycle meant…and I'm still confused. The meaning fluctuates between comics, cartoons and continuities, new and old, so I'm not going to think anymore (yay!) Thanks to everyone for the alerts and stuff…there are too many to keep track off, and I don't want to spam people with my 'thank you' emails and what-not. Might change story synopsis according to the plot, 'cause I've never really planned anything! Also, this chapter came quite quick because…because…enjoy the fic! 8P

Update: Reposted this chapter because I forgot to add an extra paragraph or two (or three)…sorry! ENJOY the fic! XP

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Black.

Or some other colour representing the gloomy, anguished, tragic connotation of darkness, which didn't necessarily connote a non-functioning system. Since when was death a specific colour anyway? As if the personage or concept, or concept _of_ the personage was fickle, as to what colour is suppose to flag it's existence. Death was death, coming and going when others call it. Things stop moving, lights start dimming, and the body becomes a limp shell, stayed in the last posture one left it to be.

So, this must be what death feels like, for an hour or so. He refused to turn his optic points online. He was tired. He had exhausted himself the day before his mind had awoken again, and now he preferred to just loiter in the darkness in his lethargic mulling. Wiggling his tiny digits was enough proof that he was awake and functioning healthily.

Wait. Three hours.

Three hours ago, he was _not_ suppose to touch the floor around his recharge bed, _not_ scamper around the halls, and _not_ collect dirt like he'd love to. No one mentioned not climbing up the walls to fly out of his quarters. Optics online.

Another day, another creator to annoy…or just the same one. Depends.

It didn't matter what he would do, whether he was winging the halls at Mach one (a new method to drop loose finger joints), liberating cyber ticks from their unnatural carton prisons (freedom is the right of all sentient ticks), or tugging Shockwave's peculiar head with a cyber tick infestation. She'd always put on this aggravated look on one side of her face when something was not up to her difficult standards, and when she's not being testy she was being…what was the word? Condasendeeng? Sahrcastick? Mean was an easier word to pronounce. At least Shockwave, with his indifferent personality to everything is (to his perception), more patient. After all, the purple Decepticon was his tutor of worldly experience, and if he could recall the ocular Transformer's words, Shockwave reprised the same role with his father before him, except _his_ father was already a full-grown Transformer who was too large for Shockwave's shoulders to carry. Or Skywarp. He missed Skywarp. Skywarp was the only Transformer that understands him fully.

Has anyone see the purple seeker's coolest joke yet? It was so funny, it was the good kind of mean. Except, Thundercracker had to pick himself up from that nasty slope of sharp objects.

Who told him to transform in mid-fall anyway? Like that was a practical solution to end his clumsy tumbling. Apart from accelerating his descent, it ripped his wings, limbs and from his soon-to-be stumpy body. It looked quite painful. Taking energon pot shots at him didn't help, but the sparkling didn't care.

The world was his playground, and no one could take that away from him.

"COLDSHOCK? **COLDSHOCK **_**WHERE ARE YOU?**_"

…Uh-oh.

"_COLDSHOCK COME HERE RIGHT _NOW_ OR I'M GOING TO COUNT TO THREE AND WHEN __**YOU'RE**__ NOT OUT HERE I'M GOING TO-!_"

To what? Come _get_ him? Coldshock could not recall when his creator stopped using her internal comm. link. Oh, right. His internal universally-open-to-all-channels RADIO comm. link, effective in drowning out the shrill cry of any creator. She must have placed a motion sensor device over his door again; was the chores on Cybertron finished that his creator didn't have enough to do outside his life?

Five seconds later, Starscream was carrying Coldshock underneath her armpit like a sack of potatoes, a glorified arrangement for Megatron's protégé, surely.

Five human months had already whizzed by, and Starscream was suffering from ennui that plagued the dying planet. Her usual wingmates were occupied with Earthen duties, meaning that the red seeker was left to her own devices on their home world; not that there was much time or resources to be collected to serve her ambitions. Upon arriving on Cybertron, Shockwave was updating Starscream on the current Autobot threats in his riveting manner of droning, and after a good grumbling session she proceeded to 'clean up his mess'. Five months did the flurried seeker interchanging military duties with maternal duties, with a resolute sparkling on her hands to make the task less easier for them both. Truth be told, Coldshock loved her like a Decepticon creation should, and when Starscream was finished for the lunar cycle, she would enter his quarters to escape from the end of the day, with a wearied look on her face. The sparkling could feel a sad warmth stroke his system, but he didn't know why.

"…Sit here, child."

Coldshock wanted to question his creator as to why he should reinforce her possession of his being, but he thought otherwise. She was wearing that dead-serious look again, which means no smart remarks; so he let her drop his bottom on a chair in the observation room, with no complaints following after.

"…I've been on Cybertron for too many cycles, lacking social contact-" Starscream took a side-glance to Shockwave, and turned back to address her sparkling. "-And I can't take it anymore. I can't stand it to the point where I've been confiding in you like you're a full grown Transformer…which is wrong, if we were Autobots. Our home is here, and our Decepticons are on that _mud_-ball…"

Coldshock waited for Starscream to get to her point, wearing his latest blank stare. His first and only impression of females is that they were hissy like his creator, and knowing Starscream's distrust of other females to care for him, Coldshock concluded that the majority of the female population was paranoid too. The sparkling stopped his careless daydreaming when she lifted him from his seat to cradle him between her arms.

"…So you're coming to Earth to stay in the Nemesis, with your lord Megatron and I."

Despite their relations, Coldshock had never seen Megatron in real steel before. To the sparkling, his great leader was burdened with arduous responsibilities that he had no time to visit Cybertron, even if it took less than an astrosecond. Talking to the Decepticon leader was also non-existent, although his silver creator did throw pocket-sized queries to Starscream about Coldshock's well-being, and took her answers with apparent disinterest. Maybe Megatron didn't want to speak to him, but the idea sent shivers down his circuitry. The dictator's fierce stature was always glaring on some large screened propaganda, and it scared the sparkling more that in comparison to his reflection, he looked similar to the giant intimidator.

"Oh, don't worry, child. Earth has a lot of dirt, and you like dirt, don't you? Your 'uncle' 'Warp and TC will be there too. When you grow older, you can crush Earth's inhabitants like the worms of planet Quelar," the red female stopped loitering in circles. "_Don't_ bring any Earth worms back to the base, do you hear me?"

Coldshock was determined to collect as many Earthen invertebrate he could find, and place it in her waxing cream. Taking a second glance at her optics beaming a threatening glow, Coldshock reduced the number of creatures to five zeros.

"Your things are being collected, and I'm going to update your memory banks with Earth's native languages. Some other basic Earthen knowledge should be enough." Starscream let her sparkling walk to the space bridge alongside her feet, where Shockwave greeted them both, and wished Coldshock the best of luck. "As soon as we arrive on Earth, I want you to be on your best behaviour, so no running amok with your vocal processors turned to the max until you settle into your new room. The Nemesis is a military base, not a day care centre…but I want you there, and so does Megatron. He wants you to see how we work, so you'll get the idea."

Like he had a choice of the matter, and Coldshock clamped on to her white leg before the space bridge swallowed them in it's light.

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"Slag, I'm hungry. When is 'Screamer comin', anyway? …I'm hungry."

"You already said it the first time, 'Warp. As long as she's coming, I'm happy. Really sucks being acting commander for you bozos."

"Hey TC, can you say that to all the coneheads and not get seven colours of slag kicked outta your exhaust port? Moronic…_mo_ron."

"And the lesson we've learnt today is: always ration your energon supply, 'cause a depleted supply means low cranial power!"

"Why don't you fly into a wall, Thunder_butt_!"

"Ooh, name calling, so mature, SkyCRAP."

"Takes one to know one, cockpit sniffer!"

"Purple infected **molar** germ!"

"MORON-A-TRON!"

The duo ceased their bickering when Megatron turned his attention to the Thundercracker and Skywarp, 'waiting quietly' next to the space bridge. The seeker's wishes were soon fulfilled, when the weather took a sudden change over their heads, and brought about a familiar beam onto the space bridge. As the doors opened, Coldshock espied his other creator standing at a good distance away from the gate. Megatron's vision was not aimed at Starscream's feet, and Coldshock felt neglected in his silence. His female creator started an eager pace towards the Decepticon leader as the sparkling waited by her comrades, and Megatron's second-in-command greeted him with expected formalities.

"Aerial commander Starscream reporting for duty, lord Megatron," Coldshock recorded Starscream's clenched fist to her breast, before the couple started talking again. In substitute for his creator's leg, the sparkling instinctively filled the space between his arms with Skywarp's calf, resting his helmet on the seeker's knee.

"Hey squirt, long time no see!" Coldshock faced the owner's voice, and took small relief in familiarity. "Recognise him? That's your big old mech, standing right there!"

"That means no funny business when he's around, kiddo," Thundercracker spoke to Coldshock. "So stand proud and remember to behave."

Coldshock stuck his oral probe out at the blue F-15, and Thundercracker replied with a curled smile.

"Cheeky little microcon, isn't he? (Hiding behind us all the time)," the blue jet let out a grated chuckled. "Well kid, you're gonna be staying in Starscream's old room now…hey 'Warp, think this'll change her mind? Make her move forward?"

"Dunno, TC. After the last time she stabbed another _two_ holes in his back, the long trip away from this dump did 'em good!"

"You mean did her good. We'd to take the brunt of the blame afterwards," Coldshock's gaze back switched from purple to blue. "But I guess things have calmed down between the two again."

"Yeah…guess you can say things between 'em are moving horizontal!" Skywarp snorted to his own joke, pointing to the smaller Transformer. "(Aw-! Aw slag, forgot the kid's around!)"

Thundercracker shook his head at his short-sighted friend. Trying in futile to read his creators lips, Coldshock found Megatron stealing a small glimpse at his own creation, and narrowed his optics to accompany a slight frown. Coldshock didn't want to think of it, but if it was directed at his being, what did he do to deserve this? Stepping out in view to the seeker's movements, the young Transformer watched the adults contort their limbs to take the form of Earth's jets, while his male creator simply took flight first.

"Time ta' head back to H.Q. Hey kid, can ya' transform yet? Or are you still working out that glitch in your system?" the jets stayed their wheels on the ground, in case one of them had to carry the dark green sparkling to the Nemesis. After a good analysis of their forms, Coldshock preferred to remain in his Cybertronian jet mode on Earth, and warmed up his own thrusters.

"Heh, looks just like mommy, too. Need a running start kid-WOAH! Slow down!"

"Coldshock, you don't know the way _COME BACK HERE DO YOU HEAR ME __**COLDSHOCK!**_"

Ah, the trailing words of Starscream. Coldshock felt more comfortable now that he had bred some familiarity onto this strange planet. Then again, maybe not. Getting a handful of Megatron's swift grip on his wing, Coldshock spent the rest of his journey to the Nemesis tied to his red creator in root mode. Starscream fared no better when her leader made an off-hand comment on her poor parenting skills, and the duo started their verbal sparring once again. Coldshock started hating Earth. It clearly had a negative affect on most Decepticons he had met so far and he could feel the animosity rippling from their exoskeletons.

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"I wanna go home!" the sparkling stamped his feet in mild frustration. His new living quarters is…dark! Empty! Pristine! _And_ it was abnormally clean for no good reason! Starscream sighed at the smaller Transformer working up an unnecessary fuss. This was going to be his unwanted second home, and his options won't be open until he grew in size. She thought sparklings were naturally curious, and reinstated that vocally.

"…I thought you liked new things, Coldshock," she dully spoke. "So stay here and don't leave the room. I'll come back for you later or get someone to show you around."

"I hate it and I want to go HOME-!" with his last breath for that sentence, the younger Transformer saw a dramatic change in Starscream's manner, as she swivelled around with a countenance carved out of cold malice.

"WILL YOU **SHUT UP** FOR _ONCE?_" Coldshock leapt back in surprise and fear. "I'm SICK and TIRED of your constant griping! I've been _lenient_ to you in hopes that you can learn without the use of brute force, but you're wearing my patience to a thin **thread!** What makes you think I _WANT_ to be here in the first place? I want to be relaxing in an energon pool with no need for want for the both of us, but Cybertron is almost _dead_ and this stupid planet is the only thing with enough resources to bring it back to life! I _know_ you have only been online for three slagging MONTHS but you'll have to adapt fast if you don't want to get left behind! Megatron is al_ready_ displeased at your behaviour and to be perfectly honest, he doesn't want a little pip-SQUEAK for a son, he wants a full-grown killing machine! Nothing goes as we want it to, and I WISH you were raised in a better time! A time where we could live and rule over everything without question! But that's **not** the case, Coldshock, so if you're not going to do as I say, you're going to get into trouble! And when I say trouble, I mean the trouble you won't believe could even exist!"

Recovering from her angry outburst, Starscream found her sparkling weeping to himself. She did not regret her words, but the method in which it was delivered in was beyond kindness. The truth rang clear that the astrosecond he existed _before_ his birth, Starscream had to hide away from potential dangers that blighted the only female capable of carrying Megatron's own offspring, and the experience was downright humiliating. Having shelled herself on Cybertron as a last resort, Coldshock's social growth was stunted by the lack of like-minded sparklings (except Skywarp, king of all that is immature), and she could not afford to have him live his life as a normal sparkling. Yelling him into a corner did not elevate the situation.

"…Coldshock…"

To Coldshock, all he registered from his creator's vocal processor were the words 'don't', 'want' and 'you'.

"…You're angry at me, aren't you?"

The green sparkling changed his mind and looked up from his wet fingers. Yes. He was angry at her. Very angry. But she is his creator…and he was still angry.

The small Transformer leapt from his corner of shame to dive at the very feet that offered him shelter, and started to hail tiny fists in unbridled savagery. Starscream bent down to grab the spontaneous green sparkling biting her sensitive joints, but he quickly retreated from his attack to run back to wherever he could to ignore her. Slim blue arms levitated his limbs from the ground to squash his head underneath her chin, and the red seeker let her creation drench her shoulder with his tears.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," she said. '_At least that part is true._'

"(…I hate you!)" Starscream drew back at the ruthless words, but softened at his feeble attempts to hurt her verbally. "I hate you!"

"Oh really…" she cooed. "How much do you hate me?"

"(I hate you…)" he thought, noticing his vision was getting warped and blurry through the counting. "…Very much! I hate you forever and _ever _an_', _an'_…forever EVER!_"

"Hmm, Megatron will be proud to hear this…" Starscream padded Coldshock's wet face dry, and let him continue his angry blubbering. His countenance betrayed his intentions and Starscream quietly spared her time to tend to him, his new life and their ways. "Let's hear you say that again when you're hungry…"

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"How is the sparkling?"

"He's powered down and in recharge, my lord," Starscream answered her leader as soon as he entered his quarters, lumbering feet sounding a familiar stamp against the floor. Shutting down the monitor glazed with menial tasks, the red seeker happily turned her attention to Megatron, who was keenly itching for her after the long months apart. The deliberate slide of her hips and a delicate sea blue finger, tracing the contours of her seat was not enough to keep the mech satisfied. A great swing snatched the femme con by the hips from her seductive strut into his eager grasp, and the seeker yelped in surprise when she fell unprecedented onto the control panel. His fervent mouth tore hers open to stimulate needed reciprocation, and the femme con gladly complied, their arms tangled in a wrestling match for dominance.

"Oh, my lord, you-OW! Ah! Eek-!" Megatron crooned a deep growl at her squealing protests, as he unhesitatingly patterned teeth marks onto her neck. His play-biting ceased when her fingers clipped onto his helmet like the legs of a blue spider, and arrested his attention back to her tongue, teasing each others desires for one another. Megatron grumbled when her hands would not let him continue his work on her petite frame, as the femme con savoured the taste of her leader, letting her arms capture as much of his frame as she could.

"(…I miss you…)" she gasped in relief and drew back to look him in the optics. The silver Transformer carried his partner to rest on his recharge berth, where her wings could rest comfortably and the femme con could continue showing her gratitude to her lord.

"You won't have to be starved of my presence if you agree to something…" Starscream coyly turned to look at her wing, recognising the course this conversation was reaching to. During the length of their relationship, he had already questioned her…five times? The aerial Decepticon was unsure, but she knew he was keeping count in the recess of his mind somewhere.

"My proposals have not been clearly refused, and you don't have the intention of doing so…" the seeker leaned into his helmet, while his lips breathed warmth into her audio receptors. "…So what do you intend to do? You won't accept our union, yet you won't deny my advances either…so? What do you say to that?"

A lack of opinion from Starscream was unusual, and the tyrant rustled her out of her muted silence.

"Join me in matrimony and you will be queen of all Decepticons…I am willing to share this much with you. Together, we could establish a powerful monarchy, and you will be able to wield as much power as I have…!" the larger Decepticon could feel a pair of shivering blue hands curl along his back. "…Unless you need a clear distinction between authority. Do you want to remain a mere concubine by my side?"

The red seeker jilted underneath his weight, and the tyrant forcibly stroked her helmet back to see her reaction.

"…Is there something else you want from me, or is this a decision you females have to make with your sparks?"

Starscream cleared her throat, her countenance withered by his words.

"…I would have to say both, lord Megatron…"

* * *

A/N: Ooh, racy. I guess it's too late to say that this fic has been brought to you by…unplanned ranting!


	13. Chapter 12: Mechs Will Be Mechs

**Chapter 12 : Mechs Will Be Mechs**

A/N: More into the kid's P.O.V. now, and those who have spotted the last chapter earlier before it was reposted, there's extra story material at the bottom. Sorry again for not including that earlier!

Note: A centillion is a very big number with a lot of zeros.

* * *

Strokes of red, white and yellow paint the roads towards the city, where their sleek designs will bask in the light of the humans, congregating around them to admire their automated perfection. Or, to the yellow Lamborghini, _his_ automated perfection. The other less attractive red twin and the incomparable Lancia are just background fillers to his unspoilt beauty.

Sunstreaker is always more beautiful than you (if you're a car), and more beautiful than your owned automobile (if you're a human).

"You're also (ahem), **more** vain, than the rest of us, bro. Hey, we've reached the city, look at the people," finishing his sentence, Sideswipe predicted that his vehicular brother would slow down to a modest speed, on cue with the word 'people'.

"Vanity comes at such a high price, brother. But _damn_, I'm so worth it." Sunstreaker basked in the looks and sounds the humans produced in envy and awe of his magnificent self, revving his engines to prove he's just as good on the inside as he is on the outside. "Look, they love me. It's proof."

"Proof that they're got bad taste in colour? C'mon Sunny, if we're not Lambo's, you'd look like a giant shiny lemon-"

"Ssh…quiet, 'Swipe. My fans are checking me out, and they need their concentration."

"So, has he seen Ratchet yet? (You know, about his 'problem-')" the Lancia spoke on the side to the red car. On a rare day when Wheeljack had not welded himself to his lab or finished his Autobot duties, the scientist would drive out to grab some exposure; coincidentally meeting with the twins outside the Ark, the duo immediately became a trio.

"Problem? What prob-" the Lancia drove his hood closer at an angle with the red Lamborghini. "The one where Sunstreaker thinks he's the new sun and who can outshine the old one?"

Sideswipe suddenly shut his engine off. "…Naw, with a shape like this, he thinks he's a giant road roach."

"Poor cockroaches." Wheeljack lamented with deep regret.

"HEY! I _SO_ HEARD THAT!" Sideswipe and Wheeljack swam in their little joke as Sunstreaker jerked in objection to being teased.

"Hey! There are no drivers in these cars!" an older spectator pressed his face against the window of the Autobot scientist. A young woman was about to do the same to Sunstreaker before his engine gnarled in warning.

"That's because we're Transformers-ah, ah, _ah,_ **no** touchy. Sorry babe, and no photos without permission, my agent would give you a mouthful (y'know, being exclusive and all)."

"(…Sunny has an agent?)" Wheeljack whispered as the human spectators gathered around his striped frame. Sideswipe casually squeaked his front wheels against the tarmac. "Don't we all? Hey…who's that?"

Scanning a nearby music store, Wheeljack found the source of Sideswipe's interest: standing over the counter with a duffel bag hanging on one shoulder was a dark green Transformer, having just bought some CDs. It was half a head higher than the soft-skinned population of the city and it was a young male sparkling. When he had gained enough space from the crowd, Wheeljack reverted back to his root mode, fixated at the smaller robot's existence.

"'Specs doesn't match any minibot we know…or any Autobot _and_ Decepticon, on Earth and Cybertron as well!"

"Must be a newbie then!" Sideswipe followed Wheeljack's actions soon after, side-glancing at his brother when his head emerged in mid-transformation. "No insignia, no nothin'…hey, he's just a kid!"

"A Transformer sparkling, who's…shopping?" Wheeljack looked at the red twin, equally perplexed. Making sure not to injure any passer-bys in his path, Sideswipe deliberately swept his feet to the store and crouched down to have a better view of the sparkling. '_Well, no harm asking-_'

"Hey kid! What'cha doing on good ol' Earth?" the Lamborghini's innocent question startled the younger Transformer, to drop his purchased goods hanging precariously in his hand. Alarmed at Sideswipe and the distinctive logo on his chassis, the sparkling's optic points darted to all three Autobots, telling his small feet to turn and escape to the back of the store.

"H-Hey! Wait! I'm not gonna-!" Sideswipe retracted his hand just as fast as he plunged it into the store, startled at the sound his brother's howl of dismay and the reprimanding slap on his fingers.

"My hood! My _beautiful_ hood! I just got myself a new paint job! MY HOOD!" the Lancia trailed the thin line of smoke rising from Sunstreaker's front, and magnified his vision to find a small dent on the yellow bonnet. Folding his offended hand in the other, the red Lamborghini found a senior member of staff brandishing a broom and an unhappy frown.

"What'd you do that for?" Sideswipe exclaimed, and the irate human replied with in a similar tone. "The kid's a regular here and you just scared him off! AND the _other_ customers! Who wouldn't be freaked out at a giant metal hand reaching into the store?"

"People who have robotic alien life-forms as customers?" Looking away from the red Autobot squabbling with Earth's inhabitants, Wheeljack spotted a tiny Cybertronian jet fleeing from the scene. Judging by his size and lack of weaponry, the sparkling probably carried some energon pellets in defence or mischief.

"Wha-? I was just wondering who he was!" Sideswipe checked the man's expression and the others surrounding him. He wanted to know more about the metallic 'regular', but the human shooed the Autobot warrior and his hand away from the entrance. "Okay, okay! Jeez, touchy _and_ armed…"

"By the Matrix, my hood! (My hood my hood my hood)…Gaaah…oh Primus, why? _Why_ Primus, **WHY?** What did I do to offend _YOU?_ (Aaaaaagh…)"

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He thought he could do anything he wants, because he is Coldshock.

Now he knows that he _might_, because Megatron is his creator, but he _can't_, for the same reason that Megatron is the most sober, no-nonsense robot he's ever met in his six months online. The jungle green Transformer wondered how many funerals Megatron had seen to earn a long face like that…probably more than enough. Must be the cannon. The cannon looks heavy. If his creator didn't mind, Coldshock might try and carry one of Megatron's chunky black fingers to test his strength. Without granted permission, the sparkling followed through with his idea when Megatron was in deep recharge.

Now, Coldshock was pinned under a few CENTILLION tons of Autobot-killing metal, and his cannon is really heavy too.

Letting a few solid wire-numbing minutes drift by, Coldshock's creator in his generously merciful state of sleep, granted temporary amnesty to his creation and nonchalantly lifted his arm. Beating a frantic retreat, another catastrophe struck and the creation found himself squashed underneath Megatron's _second_ arm. The Decepticon insignia plastered on Megatron's chest glared back at the sparkling with it's angry, purple face of retribution. Half an hour later, the piteous Transformer managed to shuffle his way up to an even more funereal face and a thought occurred; _he_ was going to look like **that** one day. Coldshock saw no humour in this tight situation.

Megatron didn't mind though, because he was online the whole time.

He knew Coldshock was in his quarters the micro-minute the external scanners registered the pre-grown Transformer, and the warlord continued to keep his optical sensors offline. In tune to his son's pestering deeds, the larger of the two sluggishly rolled for the kill and crushed the tiny sparkling underneath his side. Contemplating to himself, the Decepticon leader admitted that he did have a natural inquisition towards his own sparkling, but the fact that it was a premature adult put him off. Now the tiny life was crying for it's release.

"(…M-Megatron…Megatron…)" Coldshock mewled his gentlest to wake his creator out of feigned slumber.

'Megatron?_ Grow some respect, insignificant creature,_' the tyrant mentally grumbled. Coldshock's begging now advanced to a physical stage of tapping and tugging at his creator's chin. Understanding the real reason behind Coldshock pulling faces a while ago, Megatron was far from flattered and outwardly refused to listen.

"(…Father…daddy…wake up…please! _Please…!_)" Coldshock's keening grew more desperate, and his parent was not appreciating the general pawing of his facial structure. Warming his optical sensors to the world, Coldshock watched Megatron's vision slowly glow a healthy red light against his own visage.

'_Interrogation time,_' Megatron continued the clueless façade. "…What are you doing?"

"(…M-Megatron…)" Coldshock whimpered, padding his creator's face like an abandoned puppy, and he would have none of it. "…Didn't Starscream teach you any manners, sparkling?"

Coldshock shot his hands back to his chest, fiddling his black fingers to think for a moment. "(…Daddy…)"

Megatron rolled his optics at Coldshock's repetition of Earthen terms for parents, but since they are residing on the planet, the tyrant excused the usage in his presence. "You still haven't answered my question. What are you doing here? Where is Starscream?"

"…Mommy's out on duty…and-…and…you're killing me!" Coldshock broke down to a defeated whine, limbs struggling to push Megatron's concrete arms away, and the Decepticon leader lifted his gargantuan weight over his own sparkling. It humoured the tyrant while it lasted and he was already fully recharged for the day. Megatron would have never allowed his sparkling (or himself for that matter) to be in close proximity with each other, but with the weeks spent in the Nemesis, the tyrant had reassessed his alienation towards Coldshock. It started when Coldshock flew out without Starscream's permission, to explore the beach nearest to their headquarters. Megatron predicted he scurried into a jungle too, when the tiny life form ran in the room covered in sand, mud and other organic rubbish. As a symbol of uncleanliness in Starscream's nightmare, Coldshock daringly looked straight at his optics for a solution. Was he supposed to care what chastisement Starscream had installed for their creation?

The warlord was not going to abandon, castigate or aid him that day, so he offered an alternative; a current assessment of the sparkling's predicament, for a clearer perception.

"Coldshock, Starscream told you not to get too dirty and now you're going to be punished for it." Megatron stopped the child from his frantic pouncing around the room. Coldshock had never heard his father call him by name or address him personally, and to hear that large, captivating voice speak words that had never graced his vocal component was a rare treat.

"Finding a place to hide, aren't you?" Coldshock nodded in a neck-breaking motion. Seated in his chair surrounded by deadly calmness, Megatron remained unmoved. "Improvise."

Less than an astrosecond later, Starscream bursts in with livid fury. "**COLDSHOOOOOOCK!**"

Megatron's audio processors were already shut. The female's banshee cry was unforgettable and he preferred to read her lips. It was the seeker's turn to look him in the optics, and the red Decepticon's blazing glare traced the splotches of dirt decorating the floor. Muddy prints told Starscream that a pair of tiny feet (and the rest of the Transformer who was due for an inconceivable punishment), darted from the entrance, made a slippery U-turn from Megatron and back at the doorway to…disappear. Starscream opened her mouth, and the dictator sighed inwardly, tired of the constant and unimportant questions presented to him. He is Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, not an information booth.

"Was Coldshock flying?" Starscream waited for the sparkling's father to answer.

'_Hmph, not what I had expected. Thought she would ask the obvious,_' Megatron waited, just to tease Starscream's anticipation. "Yes-"

One red and pewter blur flew from the doorway, just as fast as her entrance. Megatron waited another astrosecond, mulling over Starscream's thoughts. '_So, he flies to evade Starscream and eliminate any trace of his attendance within the Nemesis._'

"You think you're very smart, don't you?" The silver Transformer waited for the sparkling to unlatch himself from the back of his creator's seat, stepping to face his father. "You're only delaying the inevitable, child. Starscream will eventually find you."

An impulsive frown weighed Coldshock's face. Megatron studied his exterior lacking a violet insignia. "…We're not called Decepticons for nothing."

Less than an astrosecond later, Starscream bursts in with livid fury. "I _**KNEW **_IT!"

Jilted by Starscream's voice, the previously unprovoked sparkling broke into a violent howl, wetting his face with streaming tears. Megatron's face dropped in quiet surprise when Coldshock ran straight to the creator that was to administer his punishment, and held her leg in inconsolable sorrow.

"I'M SORRY DADDY I'M SORRY! I'LL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN! _PROMISE! _AHHH-!"

Starscream exchanged glances with her astounded leader before her creation's spark-melting expression.

"…Don't you look at me with those big lubricated optics of yours, young mech!" Cue the face which has seen a thousand tragedies and a sad, incurable, broken-sparked whimper. More tears ensures while Starscream's jaw hangs with unintended shock. "Don't-! For Primus' sake-!"

Megatron remained mute as his son charms the female's maternal instincts to work. "Well-! …I hoped you've learnt your lesson, young mech! You'd better get yourself spick and span in the next four astroseconds, all right?"

A sad nod of hopelessness rubs against her leg, and Coldshock shrinks to a pitiful stature of despair. Megatron can see Starscream's weakness adorn her entire frame like a fluorescent bulb in a shed, and the aerial commander gives her partner a worried glance before she exits the room again. As soon as the echo of Starscream's footsteps disappear from the room, Coldshock drops his face-rubbing act like a virus and looks back at Megatron, happy and completely guilt-free.

"…You think you're very smart, don't you?" Coldshock waits for Megatron's verdict. "Cheeky little monster, you've broken my air commander!"

A smile hits both father and son with the older sporting a more snide grin, and Megatron turns his chair back to the monitor. A small pat on his arm brings the tyrant's attention back to the sparkling, standing on the opposite chair with an energon chip in his hand. The creator raises an optic in suspicion of his son, but Coldshock drops the treat in his own mouth instead and leaps from his chair. Grabbing the sparkling's wing, Megatron finds another energon chip in Coldshock's hands and plucks it from him, allowing the mischievous youngster to run away to the showers. Thinking back, the Decepticon leader found the sparkling's antics to be quite amusing, as long as he himself was not too involved.

Then it occurred to Megatron, that his son was old enough to understand the lessons taught in military training. Judging by the way Coldshock's joints were worn, Megatron's child was not aggressively clueless when he was pestering Starscream or rough-housing the Cassetticons. The seeker trio would have taught him some form of basic combat with or without his knowledge. As he lay pinned underneath his creator's arm before, Coldshock was relentlessly jabbing at what would be considered 'more sensitive' circuitry on a normal Transformer; naturally, Megatron was not a common, factory made Transformer.

The Decepticon lord's optics concentrated on his legacy sitting on the berth, stroking himself to check for dents, unaware of Megatron's watchful gaze. Rubbing his black head as he stood up, the Decepticon creation leaned his body against his creator, pushing the tyrant in small frustration and boyish playfulness. At first he tried with his arms extended and his palms flattened on the silver Transformer's arm, which produced no results. Then the sparkling proceeded to iron Megatron with his back, but to no avail. Ducking underneath his creator's arm (which Megatron unintentionally gave leeway to do so), Coldshock made a last ditch effort to actually push his creator's side, only to release a small sigh from Megatron.

'…_What is he trying to do?_' Megatron looked down at his creation's disappointed face. '_He must be unhappy after I crushed him. Serves the little miscreant right._'

Coldshock stamped his feet on the bed and Megatron responded in kind with a thunderous fist on the same surface. Raising his sight to the corner of the berth, the Decepticon leader saw a pair of optics belonging to the sparkling, who retreated from Megatron's recent attack on the bed. The optics' owner produced a hand to pelt Megatron's arm with an energon chip. Ignoring the rude hand-out, Megatron whipped his creation's puny fingers from the berth, and drew his child's mind elsewhere. A small energon dagger hovered dangerously near Coldshock's face, flickering shut before the silver Transformer thrust the small weapon into the sparkling's palms.

"Show me what you can do, youngling." Coldshock looked up at him. Was it an invitation? The younger Transformer's enquiry was confirmed when his father retracted another blade from his sub pocket. The looming Decepticon looked quite comical, armed with a petite knife no longer than half his palm. Pressing the switch, Megatron's knife revealed a second blade to Coldshock, and the sparkling looked dumbly back at Megatron already in mid-strike for his extendable wings. Tumbling from his father's blade, Coldshock recovered from his forward roll to jam his weapon into the nearest foot. Experience overtook speed and Megatron gave Coldshock a surprise of his own. Instead of averting the attack from his foot, Megatron brought the same foot forward to make contact with Coldshock, and the tyrant gave a straight kick to Coldshock's mid-section. Their sparring session ended when the youngster hit the farthest corner of the room.

Coldshock could not recover fast enough from his father's attack, as he remained bowled over in immense pain and agony upon receiving an oversized foot in his chest. A small whimper exited the kneeling sparkling, as he tried to uninstall the pain that was slowly reaching his senses. Megatron thought his kick would have a lesser effect than that, and pushed his foot underneath Coldshock's chin to separate his offspring from the ground. The sparkling out-rightly refused his father's unintentional charity, and nudged his cumbersome foot away from his crumpled visage.

The nonchalant hiss from the sliding doors betrayed the high security measures designed for the Decepticon leader and invited the last Transformer authorised to enter his room. Scooping her child from wilting into the ground, Starscream returned her focus to Coldshock's father, who turned around in cue to meet a sharp slap from a slim blue hand. Ignoring the tingling sensation rippling his cheek, Megatron arrested the wrist of the offending hand and took the female's lips captive in his own. The seeker's muffled shock curled Megatron's lips in recognition of his small conquest over his partner, until his aerial commander finally plucked herself away from him. Innocent optics observed his mother's reaction in reasonable confusion, and to avoid another awkward confrontation between her leader, Starscream marched off in full scorn with Coldshock in her protective arms, to nurse their pride and joy in a fatherless room.

Owing her a hearty smack, Megatron happily returned the favour by slapping Starscream below her wings, and the seeker almost squeaked at getting her aft smacked. Twirling around to meet the shameless culprit, Starscream couldn't believe the mech had the gall to commit such an act, while she was holding _their_ child in her arms! Bending his fingers towards his palm, Megatron beckoned the femme con to try that experience again. Coldshock silently switched view between Megatron's gesturing and the angriest chin he had ever seen on his mother. Looking downwards at her creation, the female turned to the exit the room, letting the tyrant catch a fleeting smirk at the end of her lips. Alone in his own privacy once again, Megatron took notice of Starscream's justice, impaled on his foot. Removing the energon blade, Megatron flexed the circuitry within his foot, to make sure everything is in working order.

'_...Touché, Coldshock. You are not just my son in name..._' Withdrawing the blade into it's own handle, Megatron returned his concentration to the monitor in front of him.

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Rubbing his sides, Coldshock felt more like Starscream's creation than Megatron's, after getting into an unfair scuffle with his father. It was play fight to Megatron maybe, but Coldshock felt his life being indiscriminately threatened, and to no surprise. If his creator could treat his son like this, the sparkling couldn't conjure what he did to his enemies, and buried the idea in the recess' of his circuit board. Tucked comfortably in his mother's smooth azure arms, Coldshock observed their room for an astrosecond. The red seeker did share a bed with his father, but she wanted a room to retreat to and _still_ call her own; now this private quarters is known as 'Starscream and Coldshock's Room'. The youngster frowned at the idea: she promised him that this was _his_ room! …Okay, she didn't promise him or even use the word, but the principles were distinct. A composed hum from her systems reassured the sparkling's security, lying next to his mother's body. The creation was perplexed as to how the red seeker could be aloof to his presence one minute, and explode into a riot of emotions the next, if anything that threatened his existence was within a mile of his being.

Two astroseconds roll by and Coldshock had not succumbed to a state of recharge yet, waiting listlessly for sleep to claim his neural processors. The youngling thought of facing his mother's reflective surface to pull faces, or pry the yellow cockpit open and feel the texture of the human sized seats. Coldshock knew his mother was aware of this habit and she wilfully ignored it, so he would store some snacks for her to eat, or place a small message chip ladled with his colourful doodles. Those would disappear in the next few days, but now his mother had a secret box which had the impression of being unopened. A humble blue light cloaked his mother's breast, bringing the child away from his creator's arms to stare at her personal computer.

A female, much younger than his creator, graced the monitor with a sullen face. She had a bland grey helmet, crowned with a three-pronged violet chevron halfway cut off-screen, and her vermillion optics was a good indication of her Decepticon alliance. The reception was crackling her message at first, but Coldshock was already leaning captivated at the screen.

"…-Mmh-…-kkhkhhhhhhhhhhhhh-…" a small hand banged the monitor in encouragement. Coldshock wanted to help her with wordless incentive, but couldn't realise the reason behind her familiarity.

"Greetings, Earth, this is Teratron, sub-…-kkh-…-sub-commander of the Deceptic –kkkhth- Decepticon female -khhhkth- legion."

"I have survived the last assassination attempt and have executed precautionary actions to-att-att-att-…evade my enemies."

"Will return to Earth soon to report of my late-latesuurrrrrrp-…Code number F-16-16-16-16792axooo0999."

"If you receive this message, please notify Megatron or sub-commander Starscream of my well-being."

"All hail Megatron, leader of the Decepticons."

Coldshock rattled the screen until he got a clearer resolution of the female.

"Mother, please do not worry-rry-rry…Teratron, out."

Coldshock turned around to rustle his creator out of her slumber, but there was no need when Starscream was standing dumbstruck behind her child.

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A/N: BIG GASP! Thank you for your favs, alerts, reviews and encouragement! Proly' gonna revisit this to correct it, 'cause with this chapter I'm not being entirely consistent.

Um, if you're wondering what Teratron looks like, you can visit my homepage.


	14. Chapter 13: Restitution

**Chapter 13 : Restitution**

A/N: Sorry for making people wait so long for the last chapter (and every other chapter XP), but I'd a bit of trouble with the story plot and where it was going. I also thank everyone for their reviews, 'cause it encourages and gives me a clearer sense of how to structure and the story plot and prioritise the events that are to come. However, I dislike remarks made on a personal level and if you have something to say, sign up. To everyone else, thank you thank you thank you for your reviews again! :D

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She felt it.

Some human years ago, Starscream felt the presence of her daughter's life force leave her body instantaneously. She should know. She's a creator and Teratron, her creation. Their first offspring alerted them of her existence when her spark was strong enough to make a connection, and both parents felt it. Having made her, her creators both thought they had lost their child on Cybertron, when she participated in a mission that went fatally wrong. Megatron would have censured the carelessness of the female Decepticons in Teratron's charge, if they did not fall with his creation. Now, she's alive. She's alive, and yet…why can't they feel an ebb of her life force, the evidence of her essence reverberate in their systems?

"Maybe she knows the identities of her assailants and has hidden herself from detection," a black hand stroked a silver chin in contemplation. Megatron's second-in-command paced the floor like an agitated Ravage, with each step increasing her trepidation.

"But from us? Her own creators? Her _life-givers?_" Starscream halted her feet from walking in circles, her parental instincts swelling in her bosom. Ironically, partaking in this lengthy and tiresome civil war had not deprived Starscream of many personal comrades, but she had little friends to speak of with her need for discretion. The apparent loss of her creation seem to be some kind of twisted joke played on them by their gods, and Starscream was not laughing; she suffered the worst between the two. The red seeker placed herself in a darker corner of the room, with her silver wings silhouetting her shaking frame. Darkness, her private quarters, or some untouched landscape were the only places Starscream chose to hide her displays of weaknesses from her lord, but Megatron excused her anxieties without her knowledge.

"Are you crying?" he called out her actions in a matter-of-fact tone. The femme con paused in mid-quiver and swept her palms over her face. She hated it when he said things like that. If Starscream didn't provide a quick answer for Megatron, he would question her on more touchier subjects even if there was no benefit for him. The femme con loathed the fact that she didn't want to answer his first question and hugged herself tighter.

"…Is this the reason why you won't accept my proposals? Because of what happened to Teratron?" Placing his dark hands on her hips, Megatron found his lover's optics glowing a sombre red, and concluded her reflections in the past astrosecond.

"…I-…I think our children are such handsome creatures…" she spoke with a poetic whisper. "…They look so much like you."

"Of course they are. They are our children and as their creator, we know that they are of good breed," Megatron spoke indifferently. "You forgot charming too."

Starscream razzed in his direction and refolded her arms in a strong knot, the melancholy dissipating rapidly from her voice. "Yes, yes, charming with a big black brow."

"Teratron should be all right by herself…she looks well from her last telegram. Just give her some time and she will return sooner than you think." Tucking her black shaded helmet into his neck, the female seeker stowed away her contentious temper for her leader's comfort, reserved only for his consort.

"…Yes…yes she will…" Starscream sighed at the words she wanted to hear. Regardless of the fragile and unpredictable future, the aerial commander allowed a little unwonted delusion of hope to be accommodated into her life. A slight head tilt and a raised brow told Starscream he was curious to her intentions. He did not want to be in the company of a female wallowing in her sorrow, and neither did Starscream want to play that role. Swaying her body from the waist up, the seeker cooed to her leader in a tiny voice. "(My lord, can you hold me for a little while longer?)"

"Can I ask you for your hand in marriage?" he asked.

"Yes you can," she answered with a puckered lip.

"Will you say yes?" he grunted.

"Will I say no?" she squeaked.

"Typical female, with their double, triple, _quadruple_ standards," Megatron gave up for the hour, releasing his partner from his hold to bat the air with a stray hand. That small hand motion did not stop Starscream's playful rocking, fuelling her incentive to tease the mech. With no warning to the silver Decepticon, Starscream gave him her prettiest come-hither expression yet.

"But what do you expect from a young, guideless, **nubile** female like me? Oh, the universe is so large and I don't know my goal in life! My lord, _please! _Hold me in your arms again, so I might faint in them!" If a weak cry and a blue hand pressed against her warm forehead was not sarcasm, Megatron didn't know what was. Still, there was always time to kill her stupid games.

"Oh, and I suppose you're loyal and _innocent_ too? A _nine _million year old Transformer hardly constitutes as 'young'." Megatron was about to state the age of all of Earth's trees being younger than her, but the femme con stopped him from calculating an insult.

"Much younger than you, you old crab! We may be Transformers, but you're considerably older than me!" she snubbed him. "…It's like marrying your daughter."

"So you agree to my proposal then."

"NO! Well, not yes, but-!"

"I'm not in the mood for games played by love's fool, Starscream." The silver tyrant started the conversation for the purpose to quell her concerns for their missing child, and Megatron did not need an edgy female to worry for them both. He considered Starscream to be useless in her military occupation if her thoughts were distracted, but the seeker was irredeemably persistent.

"If the monitor's not on and you don't have a data pad in hand, that mean's your free game," she placed her hands akimbo to make an alluring pose at her partner, tilting her neck to accentuate her beauty. Megatron thought she looked a little vacuous. However, that pretty feisty thing with an irresistible red patina called Starscream, was in the process of becoming his permanent property.

"If…no, _when_ Teratron comes back, you can ask me again…" she drew back to judge his expression. "…For the last time."

"Are you going to betray me again and fail, Starscream?"

"NO! For the love of-! Graaaah! Of all the stupid mechs!"

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A small pair of dark, winged feet tailed his seniors, littering the air with a limitless supply of questions and demands.

"Where are you gonna go on next raid? I wanna come! Please! Tell me tell me! Uncle TC? Uncle 'Warp?" Coldshock begged the two seekers, who did their best to reason with his squeaking cries five minutes ago. Pulling at Thundercracker's calf from making the next step, the older seeker only managed to drag the sparkling's heels down the violet hallways.

"C'mon kid, we can't let you know that. It's gonna be dangerous," stated Thundercracker. "Don't try to follow us, or we'll just tell Starscream and send you back."

"Yeah, the location's semi-secret info anyway. Semi, because we don't wanna see you get blown to micro bits," Skywarp added. "C'mon kid, let go of TC, we gotta job to do."

"Who's my sister? I have a sister, right? Tell ME-!" The wing mates stopped to turn and face the tinier mech, determined to get something from his incessant begging.

"…Who told you?" the blue seeker asked.

"Mommy. In her sleep," Coldshock lied. "I wanna know. Why does everyone act as if she was never born? Is she my sister? Why won't anyone-"

Coldshock leapt back in fright when Thundercracker suddenly descended to the youngling's height, wearing a dark, sober expression.

"…Now you keep quiet, do you hear me?" Thundercracker rumbled, in a commanding tone of authority over the sparkling. The blue jet made a quick scan for any other Transformer in the vicinity, before turning back to address his leader's creation. "…Your _older_ sister was a fighter, just like our lord and your creator, Megatron. She was no pushover and could kick a mech's tailpipe across Cybertron, but…she died during a mission on Cybertron, along with the elite femme con team."

"We think someone must've targeted her, because everything went wrong with a simple raid, 'con." Skywarp continued from where Thundercracker left off. "Someone planted a few smart bombs around that area and crippled the other females so no one could save her. The uh, the blast evaporated their body shells to molecular bits, 'cause all it left was a big crater, and, ah…well…the ah, dust was all that was left of your sis and the other ladies."

The duo checked the younger flier, now unsure of whether he should feel depressed or literally run away from the unspoken truth. Thundercracker held the child's shoulder. "…Megatron and Starscream did all they could to find out who would do this. Even after Megatron dropped the investigation and moved on, Starscream did her best to find the perps, but there were no leads. Sorry, kid."

"We don't talk about it anymore," Coldshock stared at Skywarp. He had never seen the purple warrior look so downcast, being the Decepticon's local prankster. "It's kind of a…like a…an unwritten rule. Every time we mention your sis, 'Screamer would just leave the room and Megatron'll get angry at us for 'no reason'."

"…Look, 'Shock, just don't mention it, all right?" the youngest of the trio nodded to Thundercracker's words, feeling his face growing warm and his optics getting moist. "That's why Starscream does her best to protect you, even if you find it a little bit suffocating. She doesn't want to lose another creation. You, your sister, and any other creations made in the future by Megatron, become living targets the micro-minute you all are sparked."

"And that's why we don't want you followin' us on missions, a'ight? You don't wanna make your mum sad, right?" Thundercracker made a cutting notion to his wing mate as the youngling shook his head in agreement, wiping his tears away. "C'mon kid, don't cry. You're a tough 'con, hard as titanium nails and all. Plus, you're making TC's arm all wet!"

"Be good-…well, behave and stay here, kid," Thundercracker gave a sympathetic pat on Coldshock's shoulder, while the sparkling dried his face on the blue seeker's arm. Skywarp hastily sung a more jovial tone to goad the sparkling from the joyless mood. "Yeah, don't worry, squirt! We'll be back before you can say methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl!"

Thundercracker raised an optic at his purple companion. "…What?"

"Nu-uh," Skywarp shrugged.

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Now and again, creations can be obstinate with their spontaneous concepts of doggedly pursuing the unknown. Thundercracker's treasured advice did not go in vain, as Coldshock now held his life in greater consideration, and tucked himself out of harm's way with each raid. It was a dangerously delicate tour, and with Starscream in active command of each mission, the sparkling almost lost the squad in their swiftness towards their third objective. The Autobots were also taken into account, and Coldshock had to remain in-between the warring forces racing to their goals. One excuse the creation kept in mind, was the benefits of observing the mission live and at such close proximity, it was educational and entertaining. The strange way the humans ran for cover, with their mouths agape to flash their teeth, his father's troops gauchely stacking cubes to fulfil the agenda, and his mother conducting them in her style of efficient haste and unneeded patronising. Away from Starscream barking orders and the other soldiers, Coldshock notes Skywarp's new game with the humans, aptly called 'free flying lessons'. Finding pity for the humans incapable of flight, the purple seeker offers them a chance to be airborne, with a great swing of his foot making contact with their extended rumps.

Surveillance turned to espionage, when the sparkling learnt of the local currency in trading goods among humans, and they called it 'mahn-nee'(spelt m-o-n-e). Coldshock's natural curiosity brought him scavenging through the human's belongings after they politely vacated the area in terror, and found some folded leather containing someone's money. At first, he knew nothing of its value. They were just a few scraps of dirty paper, scribbled with crude symbols and topped with an aged fleshling's face like some form of personal identification; the young Transformer lobbed the human's 'valuables' over his shoulder with ease.

When Coldshock made a quick stop at a local town and found something to covet, the human male stationed at that shop asked for a certain amount of money in exchange. Further elucidation by the human sent the sparkling into considerable remorse on throwing away those 'tenners', and the late human called 'Benjamin Franklin' was not to be underestimated. (For a non-metal being, Mr. Franklin was the only conductible fleshling with the ability to harness the power of electricity, much like the Insecticon Shrapnel). Coldshock wanted that music so desperately, he would have taken unsociable actions to obtain it if the human did not suggest an alternative, and after a few hours as an industrious temp for the day, he gained his money and bought his music. Now all he had to do was buy a device that would play his music, bringing the youngling scurrying through the second plant.

Benjamin Franklin was his most valued hero.

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"Get off you stupid Autobot! Get off-! Get-! You dirty PERVERT GET OFF MEEEE!" the red F-15 wailed at the red Lamborghini lewdly mounted onto her chassis. "What's wrong Starscream, can't play a mech's game? JET JUDO BABY, _WOO-HOO!_"

"SON OF A _GLITCH!_" the aerial commander barrel-rolled with Sideswipe as they punctured holes into the clouds. If Astrotrain's departure was successful, all Starscream and the coneheads had to do was retreat from the scene of the crime they had committed, but unwanted complications played in the Autobot's favour. Thrust's bravery lasted as long as his ammunition, and the maroon jet was nowhere to be found, which left Ramjet in his brain-deficient enthusiasm to fly like a dart into a nearby cliff face, courtesy of Brawn. The red seeker's like-bodied comrades were loaded with energon and were en route to the Nemesis with Astrotrain, so their aid would not come immediately. Dirge fought at his dreary best until Red Alert and Inferno served him their fists and flattened him to the ground; needless to say, the Decepticons were severely undermanned. Stray shots and deflected lasers bolted across the landscape in a lawless fashion, disturbing the untouched environment surrounding them as both factions fought to claim a victor's rights.

"Thrust, you coward, come out from WHEREVER you are!" Starscream bellowed for the conehead to crawl out of his hiding place and contribute to the battle. A hearty violet beam flicked the Autobot off the red seeker's back, and in joyous relief, Starscream converted to root mode to join the battle on the ground. Hoping that the losses in this fight did not drastically lessen the profits they had collected, the Decepticon female quickly gave Dirge a deserving amnesty from either Autobot pounding him into a thin sheet of metal, and rendered one of their adversaries paralysed.

"Ya' miss us?" Skywarp chirped from his latest jump with Thundercracker following suit.

"_**KILL THEM!**_" came the shrill cry for spilt Autobot fluid. After another round of fisticuffs, the Decepticons made an opening from the skirmish and escaped from the fray. Deep optics reflected the scene in red, and Coldshock thought it would be better to make his departure. The fight was difficult and the sparkling fully enjoyed the battle…until the wandering laser fire ate half his arm. The pain came after the initial shock, curdling the creation's injury from bearable to head-numbing exasperation. Needing a speedy getaway, Coldshock initiated his alt mode only to aggravate the pain to his chest after mid-transformation, and refused to convert after the weight in his chest died down. The young Transformer deftly slipped through the Earth's natural crevices, putting distance between himself and the previous battle scene and sailed into the skies.

Lacking the fuel reserve to stay elevated, the tiny body shell stumbled back to the hard earth, knocking the surface with his forehead. Coldshock searched his blurred surroundings for distractions and salvation, but his systems refused his visual hunt, and the youngling drifted into blissful stasis lock. Small drops of energon served as a makeshift route to the unconscious Transformer, waiting in his sleep for the pain to disappear the next time he went online. Salvation came in the form of a fire truck and his Lamborghini friend.

"Well, whadda' we have here? Hey_ RED!_" Inferno yelled at the fire chief car, unhappy at the fire truck's boisterous yell. "You don't have to roar at me, Inferno, I see him too!"

Both fire department vehicles circled the small creation at a ponderous pace. "…What should we do with 'em?"

Red Alert almost bolted from his alt mode at the possible implications. "What do you mean 'what should we do with 'em'? He belongs to the Decepticons! They must be nearby."

"Nah, they left us first." Inferno rumbled his engine to match his mulling. "Red, if this is who ah think it is, what makes ya' think they'd just _leave_ the little critter here? He's got his whole ARM blown off!"

"I can see that!" said the Lamborghini. Inferno's suggestion came after a good second. "So, let's take 'im home!"

"In-_FERNO!_ We can't just take him home! He's not some stray pet and NO pets are allowed within the certain areas of the premises and _**I**_ certainly won't allow-!" Inferno backed away at his friend's badgering.

"We already have an Antilian bumble-puppy runnin' 'round Teletraan 1, and you're just repeatin' everything ah say," Inferno gently hoisted the wounded sparkling onto his back. "C'mon, let's get the little critter all fixed up!"

"Do you think Ratchet doesn't have his hands full after today's fight?" Red Alert's tires produced a screech in protest.

"Y' think Ratchet would let an innocent little sparkie die just like this, in th' middle of nowhere?" Inferno voiced their medic's transparent moral. "Or should we jes' wait here and see what happens?"

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" Red Alert continued to rail at Inferno, despite him tailing the larger Transformer. "And F.Y.I. Inferno, we're in America!"

"Ah heard, ah heard…"

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The Decepticon cassette tape deck ignored the second-in-command's bickering, calculating the latest quantity of energon and the damages attained by the team in the process. No one needed Soundwave to sense the aerial commander's discontent, as she openly censured at the mechs' mistakes, excluding hers. "_WHAT_ took you so long, Skywarp? I entrusted you with some of the energon, because _your_ abilities to teleport _your_ team mates were necessary to bring them back to the battle!"

"C'mon 'Screamer, it's not like I can fraggin' do magic!" Skywarp snarled at being the current scapegoat for their shortcomings. "If I warped really far, we might have overshot the Nemesis! And Astrotrain's fat aft was too _FAT_ anyway!"

Starscream's face burned a new colour of fury when Skywarp finished talking in his defence. "I **TOLD** YOU NOT TO TELEPORT ASTROTRAIN BECAUSE HE'S CARRYING MOST OF THE ENERGON AND HE WAS NOT TO SUPPOSED RETURN TO FIGHT _DID YOU NOT HEAR ME SKY__**WARP?**_"

"(He didn't teleport me anyway-)" a groan ululated from inside the med bay, making Skywarp slam his fist to shut the door on the Astrotrain and the unconscious Dirge. "Thanks ya' triple-faced geek!"

"AND AS FOR YOU, YOU STUPID EXCUSE!" Starscream drove the last of her carefully confined frustrations at Thrust. "I WILL **PERSONALLY **REPORT YOUR SHAMLESS COWARDICE TO MEGATRON AND HAVE YOU PLACED IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, UNTIL YOU BECOME A _USEFUL_ SOLDIER OR **ROT** THERE AND_ FORFEIT YOUR RATIONS TO THOSE WHO __**DESERVE IT!**_"

Relaying the total energon percentage gained from the outcome, Soundwave made a bee-line straight to Megatron's office, happy to have brought himself away from the femme con's carping. In spite of Starscream's disappointments with the mission, most troops under her guidance would procure a healthy contribution to Megatron's goals. The only downside was the berating remarks the team had to accommodate, if they did not live up to her high expectations. The communications officer found it amusing to see her throwing a great fuss, and not revealing the results immediately made the cassettes residing in his chest snigger to the unshared knowledge.

"Blow it up your exhaust pipe, female!" Ramjet interrupted the aerial commander's elongated screaming. "You weren't so great y'self!"

"**Shut up**, you useless rock dart! If Thundercracker had not picked that disgusting Autobot off my back…!" Starscream lowered her voice when said Decepticon denied credit for that deed with a solemn head shake. The red seeker regarded Thrust and Skywarp, both switching from tense expressions to mixed confusion. The Decepticon female cringed at the rude black finger stabbing her cockpit, and glared back at the white conehead. "Ya' lousy female you think you're so hot! Go back to the slagging kitchen where you belong-AAAAAARGH!"

A purple laser sliced through the air, instantaneously incinerating Ramjet's offending hand into dust. The white conehead's system was known to exhibit a numb response to injuries, but the precise beam sent a transparent message to his pain receptors, and the handless jet arched back in a primal howl to absorb the pain surging down his arm. All Decepticons save for the one curled in writhing agony, followed the clear voice ringing down the hallway.

"You've got a strong head, but your hands aren't so durable…"

A soft beat trembled in Starscream's chest. It was undeniably familiar, haunting her during the battle, but she was too preoccupied to acknowledge it. Now in the dead silence, it was truly clear. The Decepticon who wielded such firepower, removed Sideswipe's antics and Ramjet's crass misbehaviour.

"…Teratron?" Starscream whispered, her shivering blue hands reaching out to her creation's silhouette. "…Teratron…!"

Taking the initial steps, the red seeker increased her walking stagger to a stumbling sprint towards the silent female, who took shy steps to her creator. As Starscream reached her daughter, the darker female bent her knee to tap the ground, and bowed in obeisance to the air commander. Teratron silently observed the blue feet halt in front of her person, and peeked at the mechs waiting behind them; Skywarp was giving the horizontal Ramjet one more kick, before the darker conehead retrieved his comrade and walked away to do their own business. The younger Decepticon cloaked her trepidation in Starscream's gaze, who stood dumbly in front of her waiting daughter. Anticipating tension turned to comfort, when the red seeker bent her knees to press her creation's head to her stomach, before crumbling to embrace her daughter.

Thundercracker and Skywarp gazed at the females locked in their own arms. The blue warrior was slightly taken aback by their second-in-command's fragile reaction, and erased all doubts in concern to a creator's bond with their creation, watching their peace remain undisturbed. Skywarp concentrated more on the younger female who was known for her muted aloofness, mostly misinterpreted as antisocial haughtiness; the dark grey female only earned that label by simply being Starscream's creation. Apart from that knowledge, plain observation deemed the creation to be a near physical incarnate of Megatron, and a satirical answer to 'if Megatron was a female in disguise' joke.

Before her tragic departure, Teratron was as silver as Megatron's helmet, literally wearing her father's colours and design. In the present situation, a darker shade of grey enveloped the creation, reminding the purple seeker of Megatron's gladiatorial days. Time changed the female so drastically, robbing her of her homely innocence for a darker solace, the quiet face of a sparkling to a composed and reserved female. Falling in Starscream's arms, what Teratron once was or is now was forgotten in their moment, where she is the first creation of their lord and his partner, who collected her daughter from the floor to a standing position.

"…Mother, I will talk to lord Megatron, and accept punishment for my absence in military service." Starscream's jaw almost fell from its joint at her creation's words. "Teratron, you don't have to. You, we-…Megatron will understand-!"

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Teratron, you just came back," Thundercracker added. "As far as we know, you've had a brief encounter with Primus."

The youngest Decepticon disagreed otherwise. "It did not take years for my internal systems to heal from that particular experience. After my recovery, I had begun investigations to the identity of the culprits, and the reasons behind the failed assassination attempt."

"Do you know who they are?" Starscream leaned at her daughter in excited concern, gripping her arms tighter.

"I am currently in pursuit of them, mother," Teratron admitted. "I had to conceal my existence before to prevent another attempt to harm my person, and I apologise for making you worry. However, my absence from the forces has been extended and the initial threat has passed, which is why I've returned. I have to atone for my misdemeanours, and hopefully legalise my vigilante activities."

"…If you are looking for your father to _approve_ your actions, you have my support." The Decepticon females started walking to Megatron's location, leaving the mechs to their own devices. "**I** don't think Megatron would deny your case…do you have concrete evidence?"

"By the data pads, mother."

The Decepticon warriors watched creator and creation walk down the halls, hand in hand in their own family bliss. Skywarp's gaze seem to last forever on the younger Starscream, which did not go undetected by his blue friend.

"…I know that look," Thundercracker denied Skywarp the chance to reply to whom the purple seeker was staring at. "'Warp, she's Starscream's creation, and 'Screamer's the _sparkling_ between the three of us!"

"What? So I can't get a look at a bit o' M.I.L.F.?" the purple jet denied Thundercracker's accusations anyway. "…I'm not talking about the 'milf' you goof ball."

Skywarp shrugged. "Hey, momma's got a fine walk, baby's gotta fine walk-"

"Yeah, e_xactly_. _BABY_. Meaning, young, underdeveloped, pre-adult form." Thundercracker shook his head with his hands at his shameless comrade. "If the three of us are as you** say** we are, that means what you're doing is-"

"Incest?"

"'Took the words right out of my vocal processor, you sick piece of slag. Stop it…just, _STOP_. 'Con. Seriously…'Warp!" Unaware of the two mechs' bantering, Starscream and Teratron indulge in their own idle conversation. "You have a younger sibling now, Teratron."

"I saw his pictures in daily gossip columns among other reports," Teratron look ahead, collecting her thoughts. "He's cute."

"Oh, _he's_ cute all right." The aerial commander rubbed her forehead in emphasis of Coldshock's mischievousness. "Where is my brother now?"

"He should be in recharge in mine, yours, his quarters, right now…" A small visual feed flicks open from Starscream's arm, and the red female taps the screen with a single digit, in emphasis of the lumps underneath the sheets. "Sleeping. I love him the most at this time."

"He was sleeping before your mission?" Teratron asked.

"Yes," said Starscream, pondering about her second creation. "Oh, your brother's a **very**, deep sleeper. After causing enough havoc for in the Nemesis, a few extra astroseconds in recharge work the best to conserve energy for my little sparklings…it aids their development. You took a lot too, remember?"

"…I remember. Yes, I did." The darker female recognised the crescent smirk playing across her creator's face. "_You_ slept like a **rock.**"

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Lying lifelessly on the recharge berth, Coldshock's playthings took their recharge sessions like arid rocks, too. Transformers had no need for insulation such as blankets, but the real Coldshock insisted, currently occupied in the medical bay in the majestic Ark.

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A/N: This chapter's extra long, but I felt it was worth it. :) A girl? _Handsome?_ Yes, it can apply too, because the word is not gender-based. Prior to misconception, (it was recorded that) Benjamin Franklin was not stupid enough to actually HOLD the kite which was to conduct electricity.

[Updates]: I've noticed a number of people (a very _large_ number of people), are confused about Teratron's existence and I apologise for being vague. Teratron's birth was documented in Chapter 9, before I added an unmentioned time gap, which is why you might think Teratron's birth was Coldshock's. So, as a small recap, Teratron was born, she met an unfortunate accident, then Starscream popped another creation called Coldshock.


	15. Chapter 14: Brakes

**Chapter 14 : Brakes**

A/N: Hmm, it's been a while, but yes, I have not forgotten about the fanfic. Just…side-tracked, that's all.

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"…And then, and then, he-…he went over the hill…and then shot…and I got…was awesome…ouch…"

Tiny garnet optics fluttered open to light the sparkling's face, groggily waking up to a Datsun muttering in recharge. Coldshock almost forgot how he got to this foreign berth, until he noticed a patriotic red emblem plastered on Bluestreak's resting chassis. The youngster's immediate frown was not directed at the current predicament he was settled in, but at the grey Autobot who woke him from his desired slumber, flapping his autonomous vocal components for the past few astroseconds. Coldshock checked the other bed mates accustomed to this soldier's irregular conversations, before realising the severity of cohabitating with his creator's enemies. This small revelation shot an involuntarily quiver through his framework at his mother's lack of verbal scarcity, bringing his left arm under observation after hearing its unusual rustling.

Having being robbed of a limb in the previous battle by stray fire, Coldshock was supposed to be missing an appendage, but whoever took the missing arm's practicality into thought was considerate enough to build a makeshift substitute in its place, necessary or not. The limb was sorely lacking in design aesthetics, but it functioned normally as the sparkling curiously clicked the crude fingers together. Having completed its first task of pinching the Datsun's lips shut, Coldshock scanned the darkened room for a ventilation shaft, or any sizable opening that could accommodate his frame to give him the modest means to escape the Ark. An alien sound piqued the sparkling to a frightened jolt, and found the source of the recognisable melody. On the berth to his right lay a snow white Autobot recovering from his own wounds, whom in his boredom or hobby, tuned in to a popular radio channel and nestled his attention in the latest tunes.

"(...Hey, little man, what's happenin'?)" the Autobot did not hear the dark green Transformer's reply, so he posed another question. "(Y'know this song?)"

Coldshock recalled the CDs he hastily ran off without, after those other Autobots scared him away with their presence; he wanted them back, and the youngster's objective changed to procuring what was rightfully his from this soldier's comrades. The sparkling did not give a verbal reply, clambering across his recharge berth to rest impetuous hands on the elder's chest hood. Coldshock only nodded in agreement after giving the Autobot a concentrated stare.

"(The name's Jazz, little buddy. What's yours?)" Coldshock whispered his name, and this 'Jazz' Transformer lifted a dark hand for a handshake. "(Put 'er there, little fella'.)"

"(I'm not li'll,)" Coldshock plucked his own peculiar hand to accept the handshake, and Jazz took the odd fingers in his own. "(…'Man'.)"

The Porsche and the Cybertronian sparkling shared the joke in quiet chuckles, amidst the other supine Autobots.

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"Optimus Prime called. He said they have our second creation. Care to explain your parental neglect?"

It was a bad start to the topic of their missing son, but Megatron rarely decorated his words with flowery language or practised unnecessary courtesy, unless it's served to curtain a dangerous threat he was prepared to administer. Another bout of acerbic statements and blatant accusations passed between both creators, until the mech turned to leave the room, leaving his consort no choice but to shoot him in the back. Worried to nervous jitters, the red seeker grabbed the microphone to make an announcement to all available troops aboard the Nemesis.

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"DECEPTICONS! THIS is STARSCREAM, and I DEMAND a FULL-SCALE ASSAULT on the Ark, until the Autobot's RELIEVE COLDSHOCK FROM THEIR DAMNED DIRTY HANDS-uUUaaAARcCHKAAAHHH! AAAAC-K-K-T-! UUUUUHK-K-K-K!"

Listening to their leader's hands subdue the wayward female, the rest of the purple emblem soldiers quietly shook their heads at the evident consequences of their aerial commander's actions. After a solid minute of gagging, the Decepticons heard their rightful leader address his army.

"Constructicons, take Starscream's brainless hull to the repair bay and dump her body in a C.R. chamber, after you've replaced her damaged vocal component." Half the Decepticons occupying the canteen frowned and cursed bitterly through energon stained lips, in contrast to the other half cheering upon winning their latest gamble. The aforementioned gestalt team grumbled their way out of the mess hall to complete the task set to them through Starscream's carelessness.

"Y'see? 'Screamer's dunnit again, so pay up, 'cons!" Skywarp thrust open a willing palm to the majority of the sour-faced Decepticons. Frenzy thought otherwise, and removed himself from his seat to change the purple warrior's demands. "Whatcha mean 'pay up'? The bet's over yesterday, clouds-fer-brains!"

"That's where you're WRONG, you metallic mini-meatball!" Skywarp corrected the miniscule Decepticon. "WE made the bet after noon, an' it's still 'leven!"

"The seeker's right now, so before you start accusing us of cheating you, it's time for the losers to hand over the moolah, am I right, gentlemen?" Swindle won a round of buoyant cheers before Skywarp reaffirmed the Combaticon's words. "Yeah! Hand over the moolah, SHRIMP-ZY!"

Producing the exact amount due, Teratron plainly thrust her credit into Thundercracker's deserving hands, walking off before a very predictable skirmish between the Decepticons broke out in the mess hall. Avoiding the first punch, Thundercracker awkwardly pranced through the crowd to exit the room, joining his purple wingmate and Starscream's creation in her stroll.

"Sorry Tera, but you know Starscream," mentioned Thundercracker. "She'd do anything for you guys."

The female warrior breathed out a humbled sigh to herself. "If that was the case, my mother should have waited an hour more. I had more faith in her."

"So whatcha' gonna do now?" Skywarp enquired about her next course of action. "Gonna look for them killers?"

"Of course, but they are not on this planet." The female whipped her arms to force a powerful click in readiness for her next destination. "I will have to acquire permission from our lord if I am to make the journey back to Cybertron."

Teratron would have missed Skywarp's expression if she didn't turn to find a tragic look washed over the purple seeker's optics, and took cue from his pitiful countenance. "I will buy those mature datapads you've requested for."

"Um, Teratron," Thundercracker peeped. "Let this goon wait for his perverted crap, 'cause I don't think the media would be kind to Megatron's creations if they carried something like that around."

"Doesn't matter," Teratron replied, leaving Skywarp's elations intact. "Do you want me to get anything for you?"

"Ah, um…oh yeah!" the blue jet lit up in recollection of his mate on Cybertron. "If you've got the time, tell Midnight that you're back, I'm sure she'd wanna see you-oh! And that I miss her a lot too!"

"…Of course."

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"I have made contact with Megatron and explained his creation's current status," Optimus Prime recalled his conversation with the Decepticon leader to his troops. "I assume he won't attack the Ark unless he wants to make negotiations."

"Yeah, but what negotiations? Ah don't think there's any need for 'em, and we ain't kidnappin' nobody!" Ironhide reinstated their agreement among the senior Autobot officers. "If anythin', ahm surprised they haven't stormed th' Ark yet to git the little critter back!"

"They won't because the child's not leaving the Ark until he's fully recovered," Ratchet insisted. "No bot leaves the med bay until they can shoot a lumber-roach outta the sky. Period!"

The C.M.O.'s infamy for concern over the health of all Transformers was acquainted with the other Autobots, which was also noted by the Autobot's strategist. "If we send the sparkling back to the Decepticons when he has not fully recovered yet, they might find reason in his injury to attack our base or harm the humans in spite."

"Autobots, our concern with the sparkling's well-being is equally important, as with all life. Even if it gives us an advantage or not, what matter's the most is that Megatron's child comes under no harm." Optimus Prime reinstated his rule. "Until then, the child must stay here until he's fully recovered, and if Megatron wants to start negotiations, I'll talk to him personally. Under no circumstances is his child held for ransom. If anything, we are keeping him here for the sake of his health, and may he recover speedily. You may all return to your current duties."

"But Prime, if the creation is not held for ransom, why are we open for negotiations with Megatron?" Prowl asked, and a transparent glint flash across his leader's optics.

"Because, Prowl," said Optimus, "Megatron himself made his intentions clear, and contacted the Ark first for negotiations first. He knows we don't have the same intentions the Decepticons would have for weaker beings, but I think he's buying extra insurance for his creation."

Walking out of the conference room, a pair of sturdy red feet brought Ironhide to join Ratchet's stride to the med bay. "Ahm gonna head down th' med bay with you, Ratchet ol' buddy. 'Jes wanted ta' check on the Decepti-critter."

"Oh, no worries Ironhide, his systems should be balanced by now. Unless…" a perfect grin stretched itself across the ambulance's face. "You've gotta soft spot for the little fella!"

"Hey, ah ain't goin' soft, if that's what yer' sayin'!" Ironhide checked his chalk coloured counterpart. "I mean, he's so far 'way from home, little guy mus' be scared an' frightened-!"

Suddenly and without warning, a string of plangent chortles travelled across the Ark, ringing the golden halls like church bells at a prosperous wedding. Its source was a supposedly petrified sparkling, expressing his 'fear' by letting himself loose aboard the ship.

"…And traumatised?" Ratchet spoke in a curious tone of voice. The yapping of a free-ranged puppy accompanied the chortles of an energised sparkling, creating a tune of nostalgia for the Autobots; save for the Datsun who already had the awkward experience of the four-legged creature's slobbering affection. The strategist secretly dreaded a personal introduction to the puppy's rambunctiously tempered playmate.

"…I'm going to finish my reports in the safe confines of my room," Prowl's voice interrupted the other senior Autobots, letting his doors sink to waist level at the concept of an inevitable, unstoppable commotion within the next few days. "…If it can be helped."

Prowl's undisclosed wishes were nullified when a silver blur galloped past their knees, with Megatron's creation riding it's back. The unfettered youth charged noisily across the invisible boundaries set within the base, sparking a chain reaction in the bystanders to seize the youngling from creating catatonic disasters.

"Don't jes' stand dere', catch the crittercon!" Ironhide's gruff voice woke the other stationary Autobots from their leisure, driving past them at breakneck speeds. Very soon, more Autobots with faster alternate modes partook in the race, following the coiled cloud trails to catch the rest of the youngster, who just happened to be the progeny of the Decepticon's fastest seeker jet. In his momentous glee of playfulness, Coldshock quickly forgot where he was and abandoned all social formalities taught to him, even going so far as to let the Lamborghini twins chase him. One of them owes him a few CDs, but that could wait until he exhausted his energy reserves.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were tempted to display their mastery of their own self-created jet-judo, an 'art form' which partnered brute strength with gung-ho resolve of a steadfast warrior; however, the jet in question would be indiscriminately crushed underneath their weight, if another Autobot did not use his guile to stop the devilish child from breaking speed limits within the Ark.

"Get him Mirage! Catch him while you're invisible!" cried a voice from the crowd of Autobot vehicles. The frantic Cybertronian jet somersaulted back to root mode as he stopped in mid-air, expecting the invisible Transformer to appear. 'It's a trick?' thought the child, amidst his heated flight engines keening restlessly to catch up with his enthusiasm. "There's no-AHHH!"

"GOTCHA!" the vehicular brothers called in unison as each grabbed a tiny arm, and clapped a triumphant high-five with their free hands. Half the Autobots who were too slow to follow the trail either caught up with the faster bot's bumpers, or disqualified themselves entirely from the frenetic chase. Freeing the wrangling limb from his hand, Sunstreaker left the sparkling curling furiously around his brother's firm arm; struggling against Sideswipe like an angry spider, Coldshock gained little leeway from the clenched fist in his animated tantrum. The culprit behind the exaggerated bluff modestly shuffled his way through bodies of metal, to reveal a blue and white painted Ligier.

"Sorry, young one, but you were pretty persistent," the resident spy gave kudos to the irate creation. "_I'm_ Mirage. That one holding you is called Sideswipe, and that's his brother Sunstreaker-"

"_STUPID_ **UGLY!**" Coldshock squealed abuse in recognition of the yellow warrior in his embittered state, halting all Autobots with working audio receptors to digest their unprecedented stupor. The 'stupid ugly' warrior held his shoulder joints rigidly upon receiving that unfathomable insult, melting his face to express sheer need for carnage to be exercised onto the smaller Transformer.

"WHY…YOU_…LITTLE…__**CREEP!**_"

"FAT FACE! Can't get a date, face like a grate, caboose like a-mmmphfrrhrrhr!" Sideswipe hastily drew the sparkling safely away from his near-to psychotic brother, clamping the running mouth shut before Sunstreaker committed infanticide. Halted by his red twin's actions, the raging yellow fury was at a dilemma that was about to be easily remedied; after bulldozing everyone who would stand between him and the sparkling, Sunstreaker would destroy the miniscule mouthful of disrespect and throw him into the volcano.

"C'mon bro, he's just a kid, he-he doesn't know what he's talking about!" the charming smile that belonged to Sideswipe flashed his brother for mercy. "Just give him some time to calm down, he won't-"

"The little jerk's still yappin'!" Sunstreaker growled directly at the Decepticon creation, trying his hardest to bend a finger away from his face.

"Urrmph-! UUPFHT-it! It hurts! Lemme go! It hurts! OW-!" The Autobot medic unhesitatingly clawed his way through the gaping Autobots just as Sideswipe released his grip on the younger Transformer, fearing that he had done the opposite when he was shielding Coldshock. Now resembling the injured sparkling that the majority had envisioned him to be, Coldshock quickly scooted painfully away from the looming crowd, swatting Ratchet's hands until he realised that the white van was trying to elevate his pain. The sea of Autobots parted again when Optimus Prime rolled into view and transformed, finding the sparkling whimpering softly against Ratchet's leg, who was crouching to check Coldshock's arm joint.

"Now just hold still a second, all right?"

"It hurts…it-it really hurts! "It hurts so much I'm gonna DIE!" Coldshock bleated into the medic's wide leg, crying for the relief his aching joint needed. Ratchet frowned at the pitiful cries, delicately prodding the source of the pain with professional accuracy until his laser scalpel made the creation jolt. Coldshock made further use of the medic's foot when Ratchet was done fixing the problem, and wiped his wet face against the once dry leg. Spotting a larger blue foot strolling into view, Coldshock removed himself from Ratchet and held Prime's leg with the same dependency he took from adults; all those who stood in the hall forgot that this small Transformer was the creation of a merciless dictator.

"You shouldn't move so much, or your internal repair systems won't do a good job and your wound won't feel properly." Ratchet harrumphed in his typical lack of bedside manner in dealing with complaining patients, and let Optimus Prime address the sparkling next.

"Hello," Coldshock cocked his head to the deep voice from the towering mech, meeting the silver-plated countenance of Optimus Prime. "…Are you feeling all right now?"

A small question coming from a great person reminded Coldshock of his vulnerability and he was about to frown into more tears, when the sparkling realised that this is, _the_ Optimus Prime, in the metal. An unusual sense of modesty returned to the sparkling, trying to conjure a fitting reply for the towering Autobot leader, until he felt that his legs were removed from the floor to meet Optimus Prime's gaze on the same level.

"…I…I'm okay…" Coldshock's reply faded into his vocal components, and he nodded in reassurance for the both of them.

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"I suppose you would want something for recovering my injured sparkling and letting him occupy your base?" Megatron addressed the Autobot leader on-screen, and the fleshling-loving troops currently occupying the room.

"Why am I not surprised?" Ratchet scolded Megatron on Teletraan-1's viewing screen. "Only a Decepticon would measure lives with material values!"

"And I should thank you for that insidious comment too, _Ratchet_. How _brave_ of you," the Decepticon tyrant squinted at the Autobot medic, before returning his attention to Optimus Prime. "I'm only doing this for the safety of my creation, and…rewarding you and your troops for providing target practice for the Decepticons in the past few millennia. Let's call a truce, Prime."

Megatron pulled a nonchalant face with his cavalier statement at the Autobots, dumbly gasping like dead fish at the very idea; the Decepticon leader was not infamous for practicing Autobot morals, much less suggesting them. "…Until my creation is fully recovered from his wounds and your fleshling-loving clutches."

"It's your call, Megatron," Optimus agreed. "Although I have to say, it's not the first time you've used a truce as an excuse to reload your weapons."

"Don't worry, Prime…you'll meet the end of my cannon soon enough. Where is he?" The Autobot leader stepped aside to reveal Coldshock into view, looking even smaller and weaker than he already is between the larger Transformers. Nervously scratching his peculiar arm, the look of total fragility hovered around the sparkling's shrivelling frame, when his mother came into view on the overly sized monitor.

"Now you're are safe and out of harm's way, hmm?" If it weren't for the small trembling crescendo trailing at the end of Starscream's indifferent tone, Coldshock would have thought that his female creator was devoid of any concern for him in his current circumstance. The youngling readied himself for a grating chorus, but when Starscream parted her lips to reprimand her child, it contrasted his thoughts of the expected carping he was suppose to receive.

"…Do you think this is funny, Coldshock?"

The youngest Transformer's view slowly narrowed from the peripheral others to Starscream's still face, her mouth being the only thing moving on her steeled countenance. To any ignorant mech, the mother of this creation sorely lacked the predictably normal, distinctive emotions she was supposed to communicate to him. However, the sparkling knew beneath the sober expression, lay her innermost fears that would, could, and might become a reality if he _did_ meet with an accident, if and when he strayed from his mother's watchful gaze.

"Do you think our war is a game, Coldshock? When someone dies, they don't come back." The youngster felt his mother's ruby optics burning a rhetoric gaze into his hull, as her whispers hissed translucently across the room. "Why would you place yourself in the middle of a war field, when you know I am doing all I can to prevent that from happening?"

The creation could not hear the exact words she had said by now, listening to the sad echo that reverberated at the end of each sentence the red seeker produced. It hurt Coldshock to hear it more than the constant irritancy snaking across his odd arm. As the pain kept itself to the injured limb, Starscream's words grabbed the youngster's every circuit, and her final message struck his trembling frame, as an unwanted moral and a needed blessing at the same time.

"…I'm very disappointed, Coldshock." Starscream's optics held a wet glaze which refused to let loose a torrent of heavy tears unlike Coldshock, and kept a fixated view of her child before cutting communications with the inhabitants of the Ark.

"I'll see you when (you return…)"

Only his mother could make Coldshock feel so lonesome in a crowd.

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Tearing her optics away from the screen, the aerial commander left herself to contemplate her daughter's progress with the assumed-to-be living assassins. The combat female promised her creation an update in a few hours, but Starscream felt her right of privilege to know sooner. The red female's thoughts were soon interrupted by her leader, making his way to her in an accustomed, feigned dispassion for her.

"Are you still worried, you short-sighted femme? The Autobot's can't do anything to him. You should know that yourself." The couple's optics meet one another, with Starscream wearing a more agitated furrow concealed beneath her sarcasm.

"I was pre_tending_, you dolt," Starscream corrected the silver leader's assumptions. To some extent, the female seeker was still stirred by Coldshock's current predicament, but she had regained some of her usual manner after spending some time rationalising the overall situation. _They_ weren't the same as her daughter's killers. 'Not like them', she hoped.

"I _was_ upset…and I think Coldshock needs to know how much. Before. Then. Now." Starscream chopped the air in front of her with unoccupied hands, modestly resting the tips of her fingers on her cockpit afterwards. "…Can you not tell? If he did not inherit _my_ good talents, Coldshock would have gotten into a lot more trouble."

"Melodrama is an easy subject to perform," Megatron said otherwise, and Starscream just recalled her original question.

"But a truce, Megatron? Are you out of your mind?" she thrust her face closer to his in failed intimidation of the larger mech, and swivelled her heels to pace the floor unknowing of Megatron's true intentions. "The majority of the troops will be unhappy 'cause we lost our last battle to the Autobots, unless…you've got a plan."

Starscream's desperate curiosity slowly became an uncomfortable mental rash, waiting to be eased by the dictator's verbal cure. "…I know it. Energon supplies are plentiful, the troops are anticipating the next battle, and two of our gestalt teams are away on confidential business. Especially-…_especially _the Constructicons. So, what is it, my lord? Giant laser cannon? Armageddon inducing death machine? Giant purple mythical replica? Tell me Megatron. Tell me now, or at least tell me later, before you start recharging."

"You don't mind waiting then," Megatron took his carriage to the exit, purposely teasing his young consort by leaving her with her own unanswered queries. "I have something to do."

It only took the femme con a few seconds to splash herself against her lord's lofty chest, purring like a luxurious cat in mock satiation of it's next meal.

"My lord, you look tired…" Starscream's curled fingers scratched the older mech's chin, beckoning him to his own room with her shameless cooing. "Don't you feel like having a nice nap?"

"I feel like being productive," Megatron's sombre answer literally made the aerial commander skip for his undivided attention, and the tyrant found himself being tugged to his own quarters through Starscream's playful notions. "…But since you're going to find out eventually, there's no harm telling you this tit-bit of information. Come, we can discuss this elsewhere."


	16. Chapter 15: A Plan For You, Me and Us

**Chapter 15: A Plan For You, Me and Us**

A/N: Yay, Chinese New Year's coming up too! (More holidays for me!) :DDD

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Down the endless maze stood a predator and his attack beast, approaching their desired target. He had spent many vorns extinguishing the souls and sparks of countless unfortunates, apathetic to whom or even what they were, before he started freelancing himself in this line of business. He, like his companion, were sparked into killers. Those who had the great misfortune of glancing upon him also saw the world for the last time to meet their creators. There were no records of his appearance or his past misdeeds, only the unimaginative descriptions listless passerby's offered as notice; that the cold airs outside the heat of Kaon provided more warmth than his merciless being. He felt nothing, and Transformers…

…Transformers were his favourite prey. This one's death would come soon, just like the young, the old, the healthy, wealthy or bed-ridden would know, when his murderous presence weighed over their throats. If the dead could reminiscence over the sparkless being and his pet, it would be the quick kills he ran across their life lines, severing them from suffering, the painful agony of dying. He held no prejudice or favour with his victims. Some were famous figures and others were made so, through their untimely deaths by his hands. Either way, they ran out of luck. They called him death's minister, and for a little irony, they gave him a meaning to his life.

His next victim sits, unsuspecting of him and his creature, waiting in eternal patience for his downfall. The animal does not offer purr nor growl, or even a meaningful brush against his master, keeping a professional silence to their very movements. A precarious data pad hangs over the mech's desk, and on it's cue, _he_ would shorten the Transformer's life to a millisecond, just like he did the others. A sharp click of the fallen data pad contrasts the soft swish of the metal doors, and the killer slides into the vicinity of his prey, like an unforeseen shadow. This Transformer was larger than average, but physical size did not stop-

"Hello, Coldshock."

…No one was supposed to know his name! He was 'The Killer' with a capital 'T'! Not Coldshock, who harboured this super-coolest-ever-in-the-entire-galaxy-secret-identity! The Autobot leader must die for his audacity! His impudence! His kill joy attitude for announcing his unheard entrance!

"AAAAAW!!!" Coldshock stamped his small foot with little effect to the larger mech, before remembering back to his alter ego. "Foolish Autobot! You must die for your death-…uh?"

The youngling thought he was holding a blunt dagger. How did it get into Optimus Prime's clubby hands all of a sudden?

"Why is this toy so sharp?" the creation's optics widened to dinner plates when the large Autobot, in guiltless scrutiny of the toy, easily folded the sharp tip of the blade with the edge of his square thumb. The Antillian bumble-puppy wagging innocently by Coldshock's side finally broke its professional silence, with a cocked head and a questioning whine.

"……_AAAAAAAAAAAAAW!!!!!!!!!_" Optimus Prime had a good chuckle at the younger Transformer, who finally stamped the other foot harder than the first, and marched to the red truck's table. After retrieving his toy dagger, the unhappy sparkling planted his minute figure onto Optimus Prime's lap, and wiled the disappointment away by finger poking Optimus Prime's windshield wipers across the Autobot's chest.

"You knew I was coming an' you didn't say anything!!!" the youngster slapped his thighs with his fists, watching the older mech study the data pads on his table.

"I said hello," Optimus Prime squinted his optics at the child, now pulling his face to the floor. "I thought the twins were watching you."

"We were playing hide and seek," admitted Coldshock, who recognised the unconvinced look adults pulled, currently plastered on Optimus Prime's face.

"…Where are they?"

"Looking for me." The Autobot leader grew a slight furrow now. "…In L.A."

"They would be very worried, Coldshock," the large Autobot drummed the table with his finished stack of data pads.

"Nu-uh. Not Buttstreaker-" the low grumble from Optimus Prime's vocal processors was not lost on the youngster. "...We painted him pink."

How a face-plated Transformer could pull so many expressions in five minutes was lost on the creation. "That's why he's looking for us."

"In L.A," Optimus Prime reconfirmed.

"Yyyyyyyeap."

"…I see."

Today was going to be a very, _very_ long day.

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Someplace away from the Nemesis stood two identical Cassetticons, idly grazing in their own boredom as time crawled through their scout duties. Perched between a cliff face and the picturesque scenery of moist fauna, the cassettes ran through their thought processors, recalling what they heard and did this morning so the duo can bounce their opinions against each other.

"Have ya' heard?" The purple cassette piped up first, earning a weighty sigh from his darker comrade.

"…Nope."

"Megatron's just called a truce," Rumble answered. "Swindle says our leader's givin' us a 'holiday', but in shifts so the Autoboobs won't try somethin' funny (or somethin' like that-)"

"What-wait…no way. No WAY!!!" Frenzy swung his fist down in frustration. "I was waitin' ta' scrap that stupid Cliffjumper fer' sucka' punchin' me! Fraggit fraggit Primus-FRAGGIT!!!"

The Cassetticons simultaneously dropped their rumps on the rocky outpost and huffed in unison. Frenzy took a minute to absorb the information before enquiring further. "…In _shifts?_Whazzat supposed ta' mean?"

"It means, gas fer' brains-" a reassuring shoulder punch put Rumble into an equal mood with his partner, "The Mega-squirts pro'ly gonna take…what, a week to recover? So one halfa' the army's gonna be on their usual duties, and then vice versa, whatever that means-what? Stop pokin' me ya' stupid slagger!"

"Shaddup an' look! There goes Megatron and the femme that rocks his big ol' boots!" Pulling Rumble to share the view, Frenzy pointed at the two recognisable specks crossing the sky. "Wonder what're they gonna do. Or more like, what _he's_ gonna do to her, heh heh heh!"

The purple Cassetticon cringed at his red comrade's connotations. "Eh, whatever, 'con. It's like spying on our creators giving the surges ta' each other…or more like you givin' Pinky a good seein' ta!"

"Yeah?! At least I can SCORE!" the red Decepticon leapt from his squat at the sniggering Rumble. "…'Really miss Lightburst, y'know. 'Con, if I find out who killed my femme con, I'm gonna slag him all the way ta' the Inferno-!"

"Awwwwwww, does someone miss his widdle sweetheart-OW! SLAGGIT FRENZY I'M GONNA DELETE YOU OFF THE FACE A' THIS EARTH!"

"BRING IT, PUNK!"

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"Oh, how…romantic," _Starscream commented on the distant noise of squabbling Cassetticons, turning her red optics to the burning sky._ "And it's sunset, too. Remember the time we levelled that pathetic village? That was fun."

_Starscream always let her thoughts wonder aimlessly. I wonder whether she purposely does this to mislead me._ "You'll have to settle with your imagination, femme con. That night was a luxury, and we need to conserve fuel."

"Aaw, you're no fun."

_I'm not looking for fun right now, but does she care? Starscream slowly waltzes around the outpost with those beautiful legs of hers. She knows she's good to look at, the little tease. At least she isn't worried for my son anymore, but she has good reason to. He's grown quite _fond_ of human culture. Hah. It's only a week. The Autobot's can't teach him _everything_ about their pacifist ways, and when he comes back, Starscream will make him sing the Decepticon tune once again._

_I don't need a truce, but I can't afford giving the femme con any more excuses. She…amuses me, _and_ has given me two creations of our own making, but I don't owe her anything, and I never will. In fact, I don't owe anyone anything at all! Not everyone fully understands a conqueror's right, but that's one of the reasons for having a fusion cannon. The she-con and I find good footing to observe what is soon to become mine. It's time to discuss certain personal matters between us, and she knows of my intentions as of now._

"Megatron, what are we doing here?" _It's so easy for her to play the fool._ "Is there something you want to tell me? If not, I'm going back to call my daughter. I'm worried for her. _And_ Coldshock."

_For Primus' sake, can you stop worrying about our creations for a nanosecond? The older one is a capable warrior, and Coldshock's being guarded by the Autobots. Teratron has already told us of her progress. Positive, I might add, but is she running in circles? She is not subjective in thought, but experience will bring her closer to her intended goal. Back to Starscream, the yapping femme con that is to become mine to own, whether she likes it or not._

"…Worried still? You, of all Decepticons should know our enemy's altruistic morals."

"…Well…I was thinking about us," _she mutters plainly to me, spreading her listless gaze across the oceanic view. _ "About you. Do you know why I did not give answer to your proposals, my lord?"

"Maybe it's your cerebral circuits lapsing into incurable stupidity, female," _That made her grunt from her olfactory sensors. Charming._ "But if that's not the case, then I would presume you will enlighten me about your doubts at this point."

"I'm not the only one who would see themselves standing next to you as their queen," _she breathed a dream created by many females, wishing to be in my proximity. I've heard it all, but she reminds me again._ "It would look grand, wouldn't it? Violet waves of cloth, billowing from the windows of an immensely grand architecture. A gaggle of famous celebrities as our audience, a procession of pristine soldiers to guard our like-minded kind. And there you would be, in the centre of the gathered commotion, at an untouchable distance to the rest of the assembly, like a lion above his pride. You would wear your regal attire, your bullet shaped helmet decorated with that infamous three-pronged crown, polished to reflect the bride awaiting your acceptance, as she makes strong, eager, delicately modest steps towards our lord. 'All hail Megatron!', they would say, and-"

_Harrumph. Is there a point to all this? I can't take all this lengthy crooning from a voice that grates lovingly against my audio receptors._

"Wow, the things you females conjure," _I moan at her._ "No wonder you're valued in our society, with all that free time spent on developing your prehensile wits to a razor sharp edge. I can't imagine the honeymoon-!"

"I'm not finished (you sexist pig)…" _Is there an inevitable conclusion to her prolonged musing? Better concentrate on the seeker, so the melodramatic rambling can come to an end. _"Yes, go on Starscream, continue."

"That's what the majority of females would think, won't they? I used to have that thought a long time ago, in my little fancies," _she spoke through gritted teeth at such trivial notions, allowing a snide grimace to pull her polished face into an malicious scowl. Starscream looks almost embarrassed to have shared this twilight notion of being tied to me, and the concept itself. After fighting through generations of warring limbs and energon-stained processors, having procreated two flawless offspring of good breed, her perception of our relationship has changed quite drastically; but she spoon-feeds me her enlightened views. I guess Starscream doesn't want me to gloat over another victory over her, and a seemingly important one in her mind._

"…Not like you're going to, but if you have another spark-touching proposal to make, I'd consent to your advances," _Starscream let slip a snigger._ "We may even belong to each other now, would we? Mr. and Mrs. Megatron?"

_The majority of seekers tend to be flighty, no pun intended. Does it scare Starscream to be shackled in matrimonial bliss, especially to me? Time has allowed her to grow and mature, and if she hasn't learned anything, I don't care. At this point, she doesn't have much of a choice anymore.__Willowy legs stretched the seeker to her full height, making it convenient for me to possess her sinuous frame. I don't need to be told what to do._

"Propose again? Hah, what nonsense! All I need is to hear you beep in agreement, and you'll soon find your silly self at the altar. 'Belong' to each other?" _The light from my optics burns the femme con's countenance, as we drown in each other's gaze._ "You're mine, now. Unless, you foresee any 'tragic' events that will happen to me in the near future?"

_Let me know how far your treachery extends, female, and I will make sure that length is cut. Rumours and idle gossip have been floating around the base on this subject for quite some time. It is of little concern to me, because the person in subject is Starscream herself. There is some truth that Starscream's scheming has been minimised; the female can't even wring her hands deviously without me hearing her fingers click in anticipation. The seeker's last attempt was so miniscule, the only thing she earned was my mirth, and her disloyal actions were more of a personal attack than a fatal jeopardy to my plans._

_Her optics dims at the question after an involuntary flicker, like she always does when the troops walk pass her, thinking of us as a couple than a single unit. They make their thoughts clear, but she cannot persecute them for having their optics open._

"Hmm, let me check my calendar…"

_It bothers her greatly, and she channels her anger to something else more commonly identifiable: fear._

_She's afraid._

"Nope. Want me to make an appointment?" _The joke runs weakly across her lips, which I take for the better. I don't think I can get enough of the dread she feels, shaking in my grasp and writhing underneath my body like a nervous protoform. She's almost…pitiful._

"No need. So." _Back to my original point._ "Should we wed during or after the truce?"

_Starscream looks surprised. Don't be._ "I-…ah…what?"

"That's what the truce is for, female. Our creations are safe, we have a surplus of energon, and all arrangements can be made. I don't want to delay this matter any longer between us." _What else is there?_ "You _will_ marry me."

_If she starts crying now, I am going to hit her off this precipice. Thankfully, the years of warfare have hardened her tears._ "Is it going to be grand?"

_**NO**__. She agrees with me anyway._ "I…I want it to be a…a private ceremony…"

_Fantastic._ "Good. The pomposity can wait until we address the Decepticons as king and queen."

"Great."_Her words betray her actions because she turns her wings to smile at me, looking elsewhere. If I don't clear whatever anxieties she has right now, I might have a runaway bride on my hands, and that…would be quite humiliating on my part._ "What's wrong now? Are you going to weep in ecstasy-"

"No! (Shut up)."_ I do so, on my own accord._ "I've just realised that-…I've noticed-…that…we're quite alone, in this universe."

You_ are quite so, my dear. For your ambitions, you've abandoned everyone but yourself. It's just plain foolishness on your part. She nods her head to the side to check my reaction, and I see the unmistakable frown she's carried throughout our time spent together, as a soldier and a lover. Is that the part of her that I feel pity for? I've seen it sometimes, yet I have not fully registered her thoughts behind that expression. She's not forgotten that quiet, lost frown that burdens her, and it does not elevate her mood for the better. If I can recall, it was at etched on her smooth face when we thought we had lost Teratron to the powers beyond life. After the screeching ululations in bereavement alone in her own room, I found my red jet by a quiet side of the Earth, wearing that countenance as her pallor._

_At that time I recalled the other moments of her hopelessness, her fear, her misunderstandings of the dealings with life. When in public, people insult her empty stare, but she quickly shuns their mockery. In private, her fixation drifts to the unplanned choreography of her thoughts, of the uncertainty of the future, the unknown, and the undeniable fate that plays its part more than fortune cares to make a cameo._

_What should she be afraid of? This relationship is not a disadvantage to her. Giving up things that make you happy to get others that make you __**happier**__ is worth it. As my queen, she would have the extra responsibilities that none has shared with me, but in the end, her authority is at its greatest level. She doesn't need a trine when she can have the whole air force._

_I almost forget where we are, until her fingers clip themselves on my shoulders, and she gently tucks her head against my neck, like a swan posing for a soundless nightfall. Through this, she becomes the exemplary model of our Decepticon females. Shy and reserved for their unquestioned devotion to their fathers, brothers, husbands and creations. The lack of exposure to direct combat makes them look weak, but reality speaks the truth when it is known, that without our female counterparts, the soldiers will have nothing to go home to. There would be no comfortable abodes, but unkempt rooms productively building rust. For the singles, company away from the other males will be extremely lacking or frustrating, and many who have retired will find no extra income, no standard guides to life outside war, and no social etiquette. Immorality of all colours will breed, and discipline will not exist in creations that were not mass produced.._

_Sometimes, Starscream forgets that brute strength alone will not rule all. Her weaknesses is not a fault, but a misinterpretation. The war has disillusioned us that those who don't participate in the frontlines are useless. It's not unpatriotic if they don't pick up a laser rifle, as long as they play their part in the advancement of Decepticon rule. Starscream _is_ a part of my personal rule. She inspires Teratron's combat talents and makes Coldshock barely tolerable around his elders; I doubt the mother of my creation knows of his 'foot binding' antics, but if Coldshock dares to include me in his schemes, I'm dangling him head first over the smelting pools of Kaon. It builds character._

_I stroke her head softly and she doesn't move from my grasp. The lack of public affection makes this gesture even more precious than it is in the open._

"Feeling lonely? Give him a week, and Coldshock will tie your shoelaces for you." _Does this 'betrayal' mean the father-son ties have weakened?_

"I know about that." _I stand corrected about Starscream, mumbling into my collar._ "I'm going to nail our precious sparkling to the Nemesis by his wings if he tries that on me."

_And such a loving, devoted creature, at that._

-----------

"Atcheep! (Phhhrh)…"

"Huh?" Jazz forced a curious grunt, at the sound of a flatulent sneeze below his recharge berth. Nudging the collected kitsch around his bedside with his feet, the Porsche spotted a globular pair of lights staring back at him.

"Hey-! …Hey kid, whatcha' doing under my bed?" The tiny plea told Jazz that either Coldshock was underneath his bed, or Sideswipe had bullied another Cassettibot beyond psychological recovery.

"Please don't tell Ratchet I'm here, Jazz!" peeped the Decepticon creation.

"…Why? Are you missing a viral shot?" the saboteur asked.

"……**No.**" Jazz rolled his optics at the lying squeak.

"Oh,_really?_ And who told you it's okay to jive the meister?"

"Please Jazz, please don't tell!" Coldshock keened with heightened desperation at the older mech now, who took to a kneeling position to listen to the sparkling.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't." Jazz waited for the small clicking fingers to conjure a very good reason to invade his room.

"Okay! Okay! Ah! Um! W-Why are Skyfire or Omega Supper's nostrils so big?"

"It's Omega _Supreme_…but I've no idea, Shockster. Why?"

The youngster kept his silence until he could compose the answer fluidly. "…The same reason they have big fingers!"

When Ratchet asked Jazz whether he had seen the younger Transformer, Jazz was too knitted in his stitches to reply, managing a head shake in denial before the medic left the Porsche's room.

-----------

A/N: Thanks to my sister for that family-fun joke! XDDD


	17. Chapter 16: All's Well

**Chapter 16: All's Well**

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but my job is fun and demanding :) (Does not involve free money and booze). I had abandoned my own standards and made this chapter slightly longer than the others.

* * *

Thought to be the old forgotten veins of Cybertron, the underground sewers pulse beneath the overpopulated surface above them, teeming with metallic life of countless varieties. Charging valiantly to their rendezvous point, a handful of Autobots scuttle furiously on all fours inside narrow tubes of nameless sewers.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Seriously guys, this place is cramping my style!"

"Tracks, just hold on a little longer, okay?"

"No, it's not okay, I-!"

"Can you keep your **cans** outta my **face?**"

"Well, I'd never!"

"Shut up, you nancy-bot."

"Screw you, Springer. And who picked your colour scheme, anyway?"

"Your mom," the green triple-changer abruptly stopped, and the yellow Beetle behind him fell into the larger mech's foot. "Tracks, if you don't shut up soon, I'm gonna shove my blaster so far up your exhaust pipe, it's gonna pop out of your flapping yapper...and as for the rest of you females, just keep moving, we're almost there."

"(I don't see why we're doing this anyway...)" mumbled the disgruntled winged car, leaving the remaining troops to think of their comrades' less-than-happy tempers. Bumblebee didn't have to wonder, knowing Tracks cosmopolitan reputation. The red-faced vehicle would have thrown an unnecessary fuss about the 'environmental conditions' of this mission, which jeopardised his 'exemplary uniform'. A few more astroseconds brought the team to join their Autobot brothers and leader, Optimus prime, before the trudge continued, the earth above them shaking at numerous feet tickling its senses.

Whatever plans the Decepticons were conjuring took place right above their heads, having heard the recording by their resident boom box; their jargon was not coded, but the unsettling ambiguity made Optimus Prime fear the worst when he heard the recording. They may be too late to stop what is already taking place, but the Autobots can prevent it from reaching a conclusion. Growing anxieties twist their fuel pumps as they breached the surface, to confirm their fears of...a vicious violet runaway, gilded across the floor.

Luminous crystalline decorations perch menacingly along the walls, above the hungry pews with wide seats, greedily waiting to swallow the next derrière. An unnamed minister halts the preceding in bass vox, reverberating across the room. At least the pacifists of this war were right, in thinking that their apathetic cousins were involved in this operation. A trim entourage of Decepticon loyalists, waxed to the nines and armed to the circuitry, stared vacantly at the intruding Autobots returning the equal gesture.

Both bride and groom shared the same sentiments, at the uninvited guests pouring out of the gaping hole in the floor. Weighed by the unwanted attention on their heads, Sideswipe reverts his pile drivers back to his hands, humbly lowering them in embarrassment.

Interrupting his arch nemesis' wedding ceremony was not on the Optimus Prime's list. The slight beat from impulsive circuitry makes several trigger fingers twitch in anticipation. The lead mech of the ceremony keeps his bride in check, as the female writhes keenly under his clawed grip for the interrupters' sparks. An unintelligent grunt slips out of Megatron, gathering everybody's attention back to the pair to be tied.

"I guess I'll have to extend my invitation to you too, old enemy." The audience watch with optics popped wide at the suggestion, while the silver mech scans the nearest seats, cocking his head in gesture to the latecomers crawling out of the building's framework. "Have a seat."

Amidst the shuffling of Transformer limbs, the viewers outside the Cybertronian drama had already armed themselves, with collected opinions of disdain at the poor portrayal of their characters.

"This rotten show doesn't give us any credit," huffed Gears. "And to think it was directed by an Autobot! Primus forsake him…Guildor, Buildarn, whatever his fragging name is…"

"I'm not that small…" said Bumblebee to himself, a comment heard by Hound, who placed a sympathetic hand on the yellow car's shoulder. The minibot of sunflower hue, seem to have taken the most insult from the show.

"Why am _I_ not in it?" growled Sunstreaker. "My brother's in it…heck, even _Tracks _got a few lines!"

"Speaking of Tracks, I wonder how he'd react to this-"

"Forget Tracks, what about **ME?**"

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"What?" Thundercracker shrugged, refusing to untie his arms across his chest. Time sped by when the civil war toyed with the ageless lives of the Transformers, but during this week old truce, the jet felt this rare moment of peace lull his fighting instincts into a grinding halt. The languid churn of his fuel pump was an alien sound to the soldier, having exploited his in-built talent in countless battles, transforming his enemies into lifeless hulls.

"…You're a Decepticon," Tracks pointed at the obvious blue seeker, leaning against an uninhabited building. The two azure machines held a second long pause, with the Autobot finding his enemy's proximity a little more awkward. The seeker was not fully aware of Track's root of concern. "And? Can a 'con not hang out in the middle of a truce?"

"Not in the middle of the street," reminded Tracks. "You _are_ blocking the human's foot path."

Both Transformers simultaneously switched their view to the congestion, escalating between Thundercracker's feet. "Oh."

"Oh," repeated Tracks.

"Oh, right. Well, I was just watching the fleshlings…wonder between my feet," the Decepticon soldier pushed himself off the building, casually lumbering away from the human traffic to a quieter alley. "Like tiny cyber-ants…'cept _they_ don't walk across your own body…(sheesh, ya' just can't get nowhere with these guys)."

"I _heard_ that," the red-faced Autobot frowned, and Thundercracker ignored his sentiment. "Hey, where's that, erh…you know, that…"

"Blaster?" it was Track's turn to knot his arms across his chassis.

"Yeah, that…that Soundwave lookalike guy," Thundercracker forced out a lethargic grunt.

"I don't think he'd appreciate being compared to your tape player," Tracks replied with added pomposity, and the blue seeker grew a wry grin across his face. "No argument there. Ours is as exciting as beige paint, peeling off the-"

"Hold on a minute-" the blue Autobot answered his blinking communicator. "Tracks here, what's going on Skids?"

"Ahhhh, I, ah…we got a mech-! _Two_ mechs down!" Skids sputtered into the radio link. "Need help directing traffic? …Please?"

"What happened?" Tracks asked, whipping an accusing glance at the Decepticon. Thundercracker pulled his face further, shrugging his palms opened in innocence.

"Well, I, aaaah, I was just driving as usual, and I _might_ have been distracted, but I accidentally knocked into-!" Skids paused with Track's anticipation. "(Don't get mad)…two Decepticons."

The last mention bought Thundercracker's full attention, engrossed with the casualties of the incident who were swearing in the background.

"Slaggin' Autojunk! Ya' coulda' KILLED me!"

"Of all the fraggin' fleshies lining da' street, you gotta hit **US!**"

"I-! I'm terribly sorry! It was unintentional, I promise you! I was just-"

"We oughta tell Megatron and get this stupid truce ova' with!"

"**No!** NO, _please!_ I really wasn't looking!"

"Rumble? Frenzy?" Tracks winced at the blue jet breathing down his arm where his communicator lay.

"HEY! …Hey, izzat Thundercrackhead?" the insulted seeker scrunched his face in denial of the undeserving moniker. "Very funny! I oughta ignore you two bozos and leave you at the mercy of the Autobots!"

"Yeah, well we never asked for your help anyway!" shouted one of the Cassetticons.

"YEAH? Then rot and _die _in your own puny carcasses, you festering rust buckets!" The Autobot warrior finally reclaimed ownership of his arm from Thundercracker's grip, when the bickering between the Decepticons ended. After checking for any spittle thrown at his comm. link, Tracks approached the muttering blue jet.

"(Risher-fraggin' slagholes, oughta' _stuff_ those turkeys inna cannon it and **fire** those pint-sized sparkling wannabes into a cosmic rust-infested planet-)"

"So, Thundercracker, I heard Megatron's going to make someone his special queen of the Decepticons?" Tracks almost leapt back when Thundercracker stopped his unsparing rambling.

"Huh? Oh, right, Starscream. Yeah, why not," the seeker dropped his rump onto the floor in tireless boredom. "She popped two younglings for the slag-maker, gotta give her credit for that."

"Any of us invited?" Thundercracker turned to find Tracks, waiting for a reaction after the sarcastic tone of question.

"…Yeah. As a matter of fact," the seeker pulled a satisfying smile. "…Yeah."

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_So, this is the part where I wait. Me, Starscream, pride of the Decepticon War Academy, and soon-to-be **queen** of the Decepticons, dressed in the finest, looking my finest. Even this expensive mirror in front of me can't accentuate my beauty eno-…hey, is that? I can see my own reflection on my arm! …I must be bored. I can imagine the jealous looks on all those females faces when the media announces my union with Megatron. HAH! We saw it coming! Eat your sparks out! …This day is finally happening. Soon, I will be given the same authority and respect that I deserve! I! **I!** I'm a little scared…(a little)…I'm not scared! I'm NERVOUS! …Erh…_

_I-…It's finally happening. Megatron's going to take me as his life partner. His mate! We're going to be tied, even if the feelings wane between us in the future. Maybe I'm lucky, being the only Transformer in this whole slagging universe capable of BEARING HIS CREATIONS! Ho-hum. Optimus Prime _will_ bring my child to the ceremony. I can't believe he was invited (damn it, Megatron!) I hope Teratron won't be late. It's not like her but she's been gone for so many days! Daughter, I do need to see you in person, the visual calls aren't enough._

_This room is a drag. Could it BE any MORE boring? Yes, let's usher Starscream into THIS! This BIIIIIG yawn fest! Purple and gold? How cliché. By the Pits, even all the serving maids look primed to their generic best! I bet they would faint if I started swearing like a soldier right now! Hee hee…huh…oh, here comes one now. Have you not done your job already? I'm shinier than a pool of cleaning fluid, you prissycon._

"Lady Starscream, would you like more refreshments?"

_Any more refreshments, and Megatron would be marrying a fat drunkard. _"There is enough, thank you."

_Big smile, happy face. I bet she sees herself in my teeth. At least people can say I am pretty and urbane. Okay. one stellar cycle ago, I was sent to Cybertron to get myself measured so they can tailor my very own regal gown including that detachable hood (hmm, good). Then, today, I had to fly back, finish off my duties before flying _back_ again to wear my cloak and make some final adjustments! (Maybe I shouldn't have made Megatron wait for…fifteen years? Ah, that's pretty short. THEN, I was carted off again (again), to a beauty salon to be thoroughly cleaned by some hygiene professionals, who stuck their fingers where they shouldn't have! My body is a temple! After being __**molested**__ by those neurotic freaks, I finally arrive in this place which I shall call 'Fragging Boring', and have these females take out my cloak to have it WEAR me, while I wait for Megatron to arrive!_

_A very humbling experience, I must say._

_I have officially run out of those star-shaped energon goodies. They are the nicest. Oh, where is my silver lord going to come on his triple-changing shuttle-steed? Oh, where, where, **WHERE?**_

"My lady, are you excited-?"

_Holy SLAG she came out of nowhere! Why didn't I notice her? There are so many mirrors here!_ "E-excited? About being tied?"

_I'm slagging riveted-_

"Lord Megatron will be arriving soon, according to Decepticon customs,"

_A-what? Customs? We have wedding customs?_ "Oh? Does it involve this much waiting?"

_Oh slag, this one giggles. Tee-hee, you tittering bimbo. Wait. I thought we were told what to do at the ceremony itself. I don't remember being taught or told about the waiting. I guess it depends on where you were born, and-oh, right, Shockwave left me this datapad to-_….ohhh_. So _THIS_ is what Megatron's going to follow too? Pppshaw! Hah! Okay, might as well browse through this customary drivel. Let's see, bride get's pimped, la-de-da-de-da, ah. 'The groom is to pick up his bride when she is ready.' She has been ready for __**breems**__. 'Or he may attempt to enter her bridal chamber(s) with or without her permission, before or after she is ready for the ceremony. Any attempts in doing so will be stopped by the bride's friends or relatives-'_

_What's that sound-? BY THE INFERNO!_

Introduced by the loud explosion, Megatron ushers himself into the room through a newly made, gaping hole in the wall. Some of the troops who are more inclined to Starscream, mix themselves with the debris behind the tyrant, save for an exception. Hanging precariously onto his leader's foot with broken fingers, Skywarp mimics a piece of unwanted toilet paper trailing along the floor.

"S-sorry, 'Screamer…(owwww, my achin' ev'rything)…" groaned the purple seeker, before crumbling into emergency stasis lock. Relieving his foot of the soldier, Megatron turns in recognisable sneer to his bride. "…Is that all you've got?"

When the aerial commander thought the unnecessary hubbub was over, the female servants who lined the room in perfect obedience, immediately swapped their submissive demeanour to systematically maul their leader. Watching her living shields scramble over her future husband, Starscream's muted gaze accompanied the livid confusion playing in front of her.

"Run, my lady, don't let our lord catch you!" screamed a courageous female in the midst. Not one to be bested by a swarm of limbs, Megatron swung his own, easily tossing the ladies off his broad carriage like bothersome flies. After fending off the femme cons, the silver tyrant marches straight to Starscream, maintaining his groomed magnificence despite the malapropos groping.

"You're looking handsomer than usual…?" Starscream croaks in meek defence, but Megatron has no words to offer. She couldn't even draw circles with her heels, when her leader snatched her from the ground, and flung her over his shoulders in one dramatic sweep.

"Wha-? STOP! I can walk-! Don't carry me like this, it's-!" Caught in the heat of the hubbub, the red seeker shrieks again when her abductor lifts her off his shoulder, to throw her into his arms.

"(Ah…we've lost…)" A small limb reaches for Megatron walking out with his animated prize, and the mech gladly kicks the last offending arm out of his path. After boarding Astrotrain with their dignity still intact, the couple wait as the shuttle makes his way to the wedding reception.

"…I didn't know we had such strange customs…" the femme con clipped her vocaliser shut when Megatron let out a boorish grunt.

"What a load of nonsense," he huffed, curling a good arm around his consort. "…Still, I got what I wanted."

"Megatron…" the aforementioned mech turned to look at Starscream. "What you did back there-"

"Save your nagging for later, Starscream. I don't care for-" Megatron softened his tone, when his optics followed the slim blue finger touching his chin.

"…What YOU did back there got me all _excited_…" as Starscream's words trail off with obvious suggestions, both Decepticons felt the mood change for the better. If Megatron was not going to take the initiative, the femme con's whispers would lead him to the right direction. "(This is the last time you're going to see me, before I become your life partner…how about a parting gift to your lover?)"

"Damn, 'con, took quite the pounding…" the violet F-15 followed shakily next to Astrotrain. Usually one to complain about uninteresting tasks or the lack of fuel, Skywarp thought the shuttle had turned mute in the past astrosecond. Listening to the larger engines hum a cautious tune, the curious jet suddenly felt the need to discuss Astrotrain's lack of buoyancy in conduct.

"Hey, Astrotrain. What's, ah…what's goin' on in there?" the lack of response made Skywarp an elated jet. "…Is Megatron and Starscream, you know…"

"(…They're all right)," mumbled Astrotrain, who almost flew to a slow stop when the seeker glided closer with his mischievous probing.

"…Ya' sure?" asked Skywarp, voice dribbling in feigned concern. "'Cause you've been flying a lot slower and…well…(you're whispering)."

"(…Go away)." A fizzled hiss ended their radio link, but Skywarp always had healthy vocal chords ready.

"…What are they doiiiiiing…?"

"(None of your cyber-beeswax.)" Astrotrain's voice betrayed his nervousness. '_Bingo!_' thought Skywarp.

"(Are they making sparks-?)"

"(-NO! Shut up, you purple malfunction!)"

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"(The prodigal son returns…)" Arranging the violet cloth running across her breast, Teratron brings her gaze to the red truck coming to a halt. Flanking Optimus Prime's trailer were a handful of trusted Autobots, including Jazz, Hound, Skyfire and the Lamborghini twins, cautiously eyed by the rest of the Decepticons waiting in front of the designated structure. When all automobiles and one interstellar jet slowed their pace, Prime opened his trailer to let the awaited creation flit out, and circle the premises in his pristine form. Teratron's dead gaze soon brought Coldshock to a sober stop, and he floated back down to his sister, who placed an identical sash across his frame.

"Where's mummy…?" Coldshock tugged at the unwanted attire in disagreement, avoiding Teratron's countenance. "I thought she'd be here!"

"She's arriving soon." Teratron stated flatly, and turned to the Autobot leader with equal care. "Hello, Optimus Prime. We did not think you would be coming-"

"SHE'S MARRYING MY SUPER-POWERFULLEST DAD!" Coldshock shouted vehemently.

"…Hello, Teratron," the Autobot leader felt minute palms press against his leg, which belonged to the sparkling taking comfort behind the larger mech's leg. The other Autobots held a respectful silence, quietly pondered the Decepticon siblings' detachment, as their leader addressed the femme con. "I hope Megatron won't forget the truce, now that Coldshock is here."

"The Autobots may remain unharmed among the Decepticons, until the end of the solar cycle," stated Teratron, and she cocked her chin to the sky. "They arrive."

Pass the triangular armed salutes raised by the Decepticons present, Starscream quickly abandoned all formalities in a brusque pace, and shot herself to the olive-painted sparkling, loitering innocently beside Optimus Prime. In a choreographed swing, the seeker scooped her child into possession, and savoured the bittersweet joy of having Coldshock securely against her body once more. A casual thought reminded the aerial commander of a proper response, to having her creation cared for by her enemies, and Starscream gave a choleric sneer to Optimus Prime; having satisfied herself, the red seeker glided back to Megatron's side, momentarily standing with a lack of a bride. Teratron stood unnoticed, witnessing both leaders meet and engage in small talk, without a healthy dose of laser fire.

"Welcome, Optimus Prime," stated Megatron.

"Megatron, Lady Starscream," Optimus Prime greeted the couple to be wed, in simulated cavalier alike the silver mech. "The day has finally come, and we've all been waiting."

"_You_ won't be disappointed, I assure you," the Decepticon lord's words started to trail off to another thought. "How's Elita-1? Healthy, I presume?"

"She's doing fine," Optimus nodded to the last time he saw his partner. "Well, Megatron, I'm not going to keep you any longer. Shall we?"

"Of course." On utterance of these words, the crowd was ushered into a customary building, where Megatron was to wed his acerbic seeker.

'_What was the point of inviting Prime, other than the lovely chit-chat,_' Starscream sent her thoughts about the groom's choice of guests, through their private comm. link. '_Coldshock could be delivered here without __**them**_'

'_With Prime here, no Autobot would risk jeopardising his safety,_' scolded Megatron. '_And…I wanted to show off my beautiful bride._'

'_Megatron-!_'

'-_So stop bitching._'

'_Bastard!_'

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The silent crowd concentrated all their functioning receptors to the ceremony, as the humble minister presents the couples vows in a voice of clear modesty. The hall was decorated according to preferred tradition, leaning towards practicality than luxury, but Starscream kept a respectful silence to her leader, standing unmoved by his great stature. When the minister cited their cue, the couple produced a smaller band from their attire, to tie each others arms in a symbolic union of their coupling. The larger of the two gently picked up the sky-blue hand in his own, entwining the lavender cloth around the slim arm, as Starscream did the same to her partner. She waited for her lord to tighten the finishing knot of his own before she continued, delicately spinning loops with lithe fingers, in contrast to the combat weathered arm of her mate.

All mechs below the platform absorbed the reverie playing out before them; Megatron, the slag-maker, joining his back-stabbing, second-in-command in a traditional civilised union, and the female displaying an unseen femininity, reflected and multiplied against all optics within the hall. Accompanying the regal cloth was an eternal patience, cloaking her sinewy frame from crown to thrusters. Graced upon the femme con's countenance was an expression flushed in bashful pride, her optics flickering to each beat of her fuel pump. Her carriage retires her egotistic pose to a more demurring fashion, matching social expectations of a bride, only to shock the onlookers with a different person standing above the crowd: is this the real Starscream, or did Megatron dispose and replace the shrewd female, with an appealing model of society?

Have they confused her with another conformist Transformer, or is it another mask from Starscream's well of falsehood, freshly painted for the universe to see? Who would know better than the only mech she has shared her weaknesses with. Megatron was an artist with her mistakes, wantonly spraying them across the canvas of flaunting judgement, and he understood the female seeker's mode of conduct, like a fish understanding the need for water. Despite knowing this experience played across many planets in colourful varieties, being tied was ultimately new to Starscream, under scrutiny by a majority older than her standing in age.

'_You're not going to run, are you? It would be devastatingly hilarious for the crowd._'

Starscream almost jolted from the dark voice arresting her internal machinery, and looked at its owner standing in front of her. Aside from the minister, halfway through his grandiloquent speech of Megatron's incomparable greatness, no one else spoke during the procession except for Coldshock, sharing his hushed comments with Optimus Prime. Comprehending the question placed Starscream in an embarrassing position, even if it was between the couple, and the red seeker tucked herself between her leader's arms, to button the shame spreading across her face.

'_Don't tease me, Megatron,_' Straightening her stance, Starscream locked them both in a transfixed gaze, as she received her own crown floating towards her helmet. '_Or I just might take flight._'

A confident grin pinched Megatron's face when he heard her reply, straightening his smile when they faced the crowd, and the minister announced their status. "With Primus as their witness, Lord Megatron takes Lady Starscream as his new life partner and queen, to stay by his side with staunch faith for our leader. ALL HAIL LORD MEGATRON AND LADY STARSCREAM!"

Boisterous cheers erupted from the masses below, prompting a fleeting thought from the aspen tyrant to his newly acquired wife. '_The minister forgot to mention!_'

'_Mention what, my liege?_'

'_That the female has __**finally**__ been domesticated!_'

'_You're going to the Inferno for that, you stupid brute!_'

'_Aren't we all. Smile, Starscream, they're looking._' Steel hands clapped with energetic cheers to the union in front of them, as the couple waved to acknowledge their merriment.

'Other_ than THAT stinking snippet of an opinion, the overall ceremony was…nice._'

'_See, it wasn't so bad, now, was it? We should have been tied _eons_ ago,_' reminded Megatron.

'_Can't a girl be careful, _cannon_ lover?_'

'_Ah, what sweet words my wench has to offer me. Like salty mead, squeezed from the excess waste found on organic planets.' _Starscream's lip twitched at the fleeting thought of Earth, and it's moisture leaking inhabitants.

'…_Charming._ _Don't hate me for saying this, Megatron, but in this perfect moment-_'

'_Don't say it-_' Megatron curtly cut her message short, and Starscream mentally huffed at her lord. '…_**What**__ can go wrong, mighty Megatron-?_'

A audible thud was heard after a solid piece of metal fell from the ceiling, and onto Blitzwing's now misshapen head.

'…_Starscream, I hate you-!_'

A thunderous explosion cut into their audio receptors, before the floor swallowed the Transformers whole. Those with the ability to fly were not given allowance, as the rest of the roof followed through, and everyone disappeared into the darkness beyond the earth.

* * *

A/N: It's not over yet! 'Made this chapter was extra long. As for the word 'tied', if anyone didn't catch on yet, it's a non-canonical term referring to two Transformers getting wed. Thank you for your reviews and your patronage!


	18. Chapter 17: Queen of Dissension

Chapter 17 : Queen of Dissension

**Chapter 17 : Queen of Dissension  
**

A/N: Apologies to those who have waited so long for the chapters to be posted and thanks for your comments, reviews and support.

--

"This is Channel Wave Plexhar, with the latest news update on Cybertron! I'm Autobot Holler and this is my co-host Decepticon Tunnelcall. Today is an _extremely_ grave day, as just a few astroseconds ago, the wedding of Decepticon leader Megatron, to his second-in-command Starscream, was brought to a devastating standstill!"

"Optic witnesses outside the minster said that they heard a loud crash before the ground collapsed, swallowing all the Transformers attending the wedding, into the old underground sewage system! Both armies then started quarrelling and accused one another of acts of blatant conspiracy, when Shockwave, Cybertron's designated guardian, intervened and directed the Decepticons to excavate the site and find any casualties. There is no coincidence in the matter, when Autobot troops stationed outside the building, found remnants of a custom-made bomb, suggesting the ill-intentions of a third party against the great Decepticon figures of power."

"Autobots who were present at the ceremony were not the intended targets, as their attendance was made private until the day of the ceremony. Transformers have been warned to stay away from the vicinity, as there may be more bombs planted in the area."

"And in other news: has media sensationalist extraordinaire, Joyrock, said too much? Tensions rose among the Decepticon ranks when she openly criticised our great Decepticon leader and Starscream's motives for 'making ends meet'…"

--

His bride's face turned to shock when the sensation beneath their feet, forced the ground to bear teeth and swallow the attendants of the ceremony. The sliver of purple snapped before breaking into half between their wrists, which was the last thing Megatron saw before reaching an unconscious state; or to be precise, when a large piece of ceiling broke its fall on his head and placed the aspen mech in stasis lock. His mind reeled in a recollection of memories, with questions, quotes and gibberish curdling in the soup of his consciousness, until a single question arose:

Why was he tying himself to that female?

He only had himself to answer that question. '_She is the only female who can bear my creations without reaching death._'

He thought a little more. Surely, the female deserves more credit than she receives.

'_She also has an attractive aft that wobbles interestingly when she walks._'

He thought a little bit harder.

Not that he was without emotion, but Megatron rarely indulged himself with irrational feelings or petty sentiments that could affect his decisions. Maybe that's why he tied himself to her, this overly passionate female: it was their differences that brought them together. The countless vorns of cohabitating with one another revealed more than their fair share of personal habits; having tolerated that, they both wanted things from each other that couldn't be forcibly taken or stolen.

The prime of her youth no doubt made him feel older and it didn't help the harlot callously labelled him 'stuffy', but all that name-calling soon contributed to their volatile intimacy. The seeker's sharpened wit coupled with her cheeky playfulness was a welcomed delight. At first her playfulness was a slight bother, but then the tweak of a small grin would follow after hers and Starscream would take pride in her devilry, hinted for him and him alone. Only the chosen few allowed to 'share' the space in her life, was allowed the same care and determination she applied to her well-being. Reminiscing on such trivial thoughts made Megatron mumble with slurred delight, until a familiar voice broke the bubble of his dreams.

"(…Daddy?)" his creation's voice asked, sounding half-concerned and somewhat confused.

"Don't worry, Coldshock, it takes more than half a building to bring your father down." Megatron heard the familiar voice of his arch nemesis.

'…_Prime?_' the aspen mech thought, between the fresh clangs of tiny hands slapping his face. '_…Prime…_'

"Daddy…?" Megatron felt a small weight shuffling away from his body, which coincidentally stopped the tiny hands from being irritating.

'…_Prime…_'

'…_Prime…_'

'…_Prime…_'

"…………_**PRIME!!**_" Megatron howled with renewed menace and violently hurled himself out of stasis lock, lunging straight for the Autobot leader. Coldshock watched with an empathic frown at the two mechs exchanging blows as a means of communication, while he waited for his father's optics to see the situation they were in. He turned his thoughts to his crimson mother, wondering whether she was still alive, what condition she was in and where she would be now…

--

'_…Slag..._' she thought. '_Of all the days to ruin, the fates had to pick my WEDDING day…_'

Tired-of-the-universe optics flickered online to spot a violet nuptial band, tied to her missing better half. Her ripped cloak was sorely lacking its regal sheen and Starscream checked her surroundings, before openly declaring her current state of mind.

"SLAG _SLAG_ SLAGGING _FRAG-_**SLAG**_-INS!!_" she screeched profanities and more profanities. "My beautiful wedding band! My gorgeous CLOAK! All _TORN!_"

She paused, if not for dramatic effect.

"MY **CROWN!!**" Starscream started to paw the three-pronged glory, resting atop her head without worry; it was unharmed. "...**DAMN** these schemers! Single-circuit plebeians! Sore-sighted sycophants! Ground grovelling invertebrates! I'll find you and I'll KILL you if it's the last thing _I-!_"

Starscream clipped her teeth shut, when she suddenly recalled the social etiquette that was expected from her. With Megatron as her mate, she was now the queen of the Deceptions, and as such, her current manner of speech was not befitting of her title!

"_Fragging slag!_" Or so they say, before the femme con started exploring her surroundings between her mulling, scanning the walls and gliding her palms across the gritty surfaces. What would those simple creatures who call themselves Megatron's - no, her! - _Her_ troops know? She is the talented and beautiful STARSCREAM, queen of these single byte, lowlife, slag-sucking glitch heads below her feet! They flap their chins and talk about how the'bitch' was going to be a BIGGER **bitch**, and she's heard them all. Megatron's method of ignoring his troops gossip helped to a certain extent, but for Starscream it gave little consolation, as said subject of these petty rumourswas herself! Numerous times has she elucidated this mind aggravating issue to her mech counterpart, and several times he told her to ignore it and shut up.

'_Starscream, I know some females __like__ to pay particular attention to such, (ah-hrm), _enlightening_ conversations, but it's mere gossip. We have other, more IMPORTANT things-_' note how he said important like she didn't understand the word! '_-to worry about than your celebrity status, now pay attention. This diagram-_'

The crimson seeker hated it when he did not indulge her, so she would reinforce her opinions in a higher tone of voice. Starscream expected her lord to brush her off with words or hand, but sometimes, he would deviate from the usual options. On quieter occasions, Megatron would watch her livid gesticulations. She knew he wasn't really paying attention, but pretended to look like he did, following her sky blue arms trying desperately to grasp thin air, or watch her joints bend and turn with emotion, before ending her frustrations in a forced embrace. Her silver lord would look into her protected optics, while she let hers dart between confusion and displeasure. Starscream would pout in lingered discomfort which he called 'cute', just to produce a retch of revulsion from her, but in truth the seeker wanted to stay in his arms for as long as possible. In them, she could get away from worlds and galaxies, drown them with her worries and lose herself in his company.

But such sentiments made her feel very much alone right now. Sure, she was emotionally alone for most of her life, surrounded by countless mechs who have sorely disappointed her with their stubborn morals and chauvinistic bravado. But who could blame them? The majority of Decepticons were male anyway, and she got tied to the best of them all, sarcasm not included.

'_I lo-…_' her thoughts suddenly took a dead end, and Starscream quickly dropped them with her arms, previously tangled in physical memory of her lord's touch.

'…_If he wasn't a magnet for trouble, we wouldn't _be_ in this mess!_' The walls wearily groaned with an echo, reminding the femme con of its general frailty. It took her another breem or so to make an exit from her confined space, just in case the rest of Cybertron decided to collapse on her. Starscream clicked her jaws shut and sucked her lips in, spitting the hatred she recited half and hour ago. "(Whoever-…whomever did this…I'll find you…I'll-!)"

"Mother?"

Starscream stopped her bitter musing when she heard the call. A fold of old, forgotten sentiment blanketed her spark and the jet croaked a name in recognition.

"……Lightburst?"

--

"If you didn't jump to conclusions, Megatron, your fusion cannon would still be attached to your arm," Optimus Prime gestured to the aforementioned item buried into the wall. It rasped in protest when Megatron yanked it from the rubbish and clipped it back on his arm, satisfied with the familiar black weight. Both faction leaders looked at each other in obvious contempt, until Coldshock broke his father's glare.

"(Let's go…)" he whimpered, much to Megatron's chagrin for meekness. "…We have to find mother!"

The grey Transformer flicked his communicator open to tickled static running across the screen, crackling to no signal found. The other two in Megatron's company checked their communicators for reception, before dwelling in the same frown of disappointment plastered on the tyrant's face.

"…Someone's jamming our signals," stated the Autobot leader.

"Then I guess you're on your own, _Prime_," sneered Megatron, who started to walk away. The Autobot leader shrugged off his nemesis' words. "That's fine by me."

With the patter of feet following his creator's thunderous steps, the youngling whipped his head back to find Optimus' azure gaze, deep with wisdom and hope for the future. Coldshock wished his father had the same undeniable gaze, but kept those wishes to himself and hurried his pace, not to leave Optimus Prime but to locate his female creator.

Having watched both father and son disappear into the dreary darkness, Optimus Prime headed in the opposite direction, letting caution guide his way to the surface. Walking, crawling and clambering through the unpredictable maze, the Autobot leader feared for everyone's safety, as the surrounding pipes muttered and creaked in warning of a dreadful tide. A tremendous rumble alerted him for the worst, not because his balance was to be thrown astray, but the source of the tremors that shook his entire system came from Megatron's direction.

--

"Lightburst, (Lightburst)," Starscream spoke in the gentlest tone she could foster, and calmed her child to small hiccups. "Just tell me what's going on and why are you-"

"N-not dead?" the minute Decepticon sighed. "I-I-I was barely alive when the femme con team was ambushed, and-!"

"Do you know who's doing this? Do you! Are they the same Transformers involved in this?! Tell me, TELL ME-!" Lightburst yelped when Starscream forcibly grabbed her frame and the larger female quickly dropped her tired daughter. How could Starscream forget the day her children were ambushed by faceless scum, carrying malicious intent beyond her knowledge? The day she lost her personal entourage of female Decepticons who failed to complete their mission, to continue to protect their leaders and live their lives?

Memories of the damage site burned vividly in Starscream's mind, where discarded limbs that were violently torn from the femme cons lay scattered in the rubbish. They said her children were nearest to the impact, and when their bodies were neatly incinerated, their ashes could be lost in the wind. How could Starscream forget the need to spill the culprits' energon and grind their metal to dust, twisting her hatred to unthinkable depths. Starscream's lips, now pursed to sharp angles of odium, summoned the words through her teeth. "(Tell me what you know, daughter…)"

"Mother…" sniffed Lightburst, which brought her closer to her mother's bright frame. A delicate blue hand stroked her shaking body, to quell the pleading tenor in her voice. "…S-Soundwave…Soundwave wanted us dead. H-he wanted T-...he wanted Teratron dead, but I think he didn't want witnesses so…so he laid an ambush an' tried to kill us all…"

Starscream continued to coo to her daughter, as the rage seethed furiously within her deathly form. "(When I get out of this mess, I'm going to kill that bastard and eat his spark!)" she spat between gnashed teeth.

"M-mother…please…I'm sorry…" Lightburst wet Starscream's cockpit, unable to control the tears. "Midnight doesn't know, but…I-…I saw Teratron come out alive…we-…we helped each other get better, but Teratron didn't want to reveal ourselves because-"

"Soundwave?" the tiny femme con nodded to Starscream's hushed words. "…Do you know _why_ he would want Teratron dead…?"

"I- (…I couldn't come back…)" the Cassetticon whispered. "If-If-If I did, I'd be-! And you'd-!"

--

Tiny grazed hands searched the aspen giant for movement, but Megatron looked lifeless in stasis lock. That last fall was enough to stun the Decepticon lord into unconsciousness, while his creation would have been torn to pieces, if he wasn't shielded in the fall. The youngling was well aware of his father's actions and the scratched silver metal grew painfully colder under Coldshock's palms. A hard cough forced a cloud out of Coldshock's breath and his frame jerked, suddenly becoming afraid of his surroundings, afraid of something…_anything_, catching him unaware. Was Optimus Prime too far to hear their descent? Will he come and save them? Without the strength of his creators', Coldshock felt like a lonesome, little speck in life, defenceless and ripe for the picking. 

"Coldshock."

He jumped to his name and wedged himself between his father's arm and body. The sparkling could not recognise voices in his panic anymore, and the elongated tunnels exaggerated the echoed voice with a warbling gurgle. A rich blue-coloured hand crept out of the shadows, and the navy blue Decepticon crept into the light for Coldshock to recognise.

"Do not fear, Coldshock," said Soundwave, in his voice of dead variety.

--

"(…Teratron's not afraid of Soundwave)," the small voice grew softer in fear. "She-…she had a plan. She'd spent a lot of time on it in secret, but when I found out what it was, I couldn't tell anyone, because-! B-Because if someone else knew what she was doing, she said she'd kill me! And then-! …Soundwave got in her way." Lightburst ended in dead silence. Starscream's mind was beyond casual pondering. "So the plan to kill Soundwave was…wait a click, what?! You mean-?!"

"(She has two plans, now)," muttered the smaller femme, caught in half-guilt and dread.

The red jet threw her palms in the air upon hearing those words, if her confusion was not apparent enough. Lightburst hid her disconcertment with Starscream's self-depreciating sarcasm and continued. "Teratron wants to get her revenge on Soundwave. But before that, she had other plan-…the _first_ plan she made, Soundwave found out first…"

A clumsy knock stole the females attention to the darkness ahead of them. Clinkering, rattling, the odd tinker of metal drew closer, while Starscream instinctively held Lightburst to her chest. Moving in dramatic sloth, the head of the assassin appeared, with the dim light reflecting off his worn helmet. After the battered faceplate came the severed neck, and a hand which threw the communication officer's dismembered head at Starscream's feet.

"The mech who tried to take my life has been found and terminated," said the deadpan voice of Starscream's older creation, holding it's usual calm. "…Now…"

Teratron's purple frame emerged from the black depth, unscathed and fully armed with a scabbard in one hand. "…My first plan: the extinction of my creators, for the advancement of the Decepticon empire."

"(I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry-)" Looking upon her daughter's poised frame, the creator let her jaw hang aghast in disbelief.

"…Huh…" Starscream felt oddly proud at Teratron's efforts.

--

A/N: OMGWTFUGGINBBQ! This isn't as long as the other chapters, but right now, I'm preoccupied with other things. Also, a big thank you to my sister for proof reading this chapter!


	19. Chapter 18: Lady Discord

**Chapter 18: Lady Discord**

A/N: I lost the first half of the chapter after finishing the second half, so I had to type it again! Glaaaagh~ Hey everyone, sorry for the late updates. Now that I look at it, people have been receiving one chapter per annum! XP Sorry guys, I haven't forgotten this, just to remind you! Not only have I got work to do, the mental block scares the pants of me and my PC, well...died. AGAIN. Thankfully, everything's backed up. Well, better post this up before I find countless mistakes and get picky.

-----------

Starscream checked the still blade in her daughter's hands, unmoved by the stern draft travelling down the tunnels and wondered; should she feel indifferent to such inheritable treachery, or surprised that it manifested itself much sooner than she thought it would.

"Teratron, Teratron…" the aforementioned Transformer sounded a curious click at her creator, until she heard a small chuckle escape the seeker's lips. "**Please** tell me this is some, _rebellious_ phase you're going through!"

Starscream's cackle echoed across the scene, growing louder as her voice tickled the pipes that ran down the tunnels. Only the warning hiss from Teratron's scabbard, cued the red seeker to take a breath and introduce cynical logic to the situation.

"Teratron, I hope this cute, little plan of yours has a good safety net against the consequences you're about to face," said Starscream, itching to start pacing in circles with her words. "Have you forgotten who you're up against, other than the collected savagery of the growing Decepticon army, lead by our omnipotent (and immutable), Lord of Destruction, Megatron. Well? That's right, darling, _ME!_"

"Exactly." Starscream paused her tongue, waiting in doubt of what she was expecting to hear, as Teratron's words carried an unmovable conviction. "I am up against a female who thought she lost her creation, who grieved for many lunar cycles over her supposed departure. Will she be able to handle the loss? I thought not."

'..._Fragging slag_'. The carmine seeker was not shy to administer punishment, but under these 'special' circumstances, her creations could dance at the doors of the Inferno, as long as their mother's spark was still beating. She should know, having excelled herself beyond the mastery of this routine for the last nine million years, with acts such as shameless begging, tearful grovelling and quite recently as a female, prostitution. If Megatron were to order death upon her children, Starscream could be daringly tenacious to nullify her lord's demands, so her daughter already had the upper hand, in circumventing any death sentence bestowed on her by her creators; and if _they_ met with a fatal accident, there would be little to no contest for their warrior daughter to obtain the coveted leadership of the Decepticons.

"Surrender, and I shall make it as painless as possible," reminded the purple warrior, blade levelled with its target's head. "Any last words, mother?"

Starscream almost rolled her optic sensors to the ceiling, if Teratron wasn't determined to cleave her into two. Small hands belonging to her stepchild, tightened their grip over her thigh in unshakable fear. As the younger generation tensed their joints with awaiting anticipation, the elder femme con exhaled gently over her internal systems in steady calm. Before she could break the still air, an unfamiliar numbness arrested Teratron's foot, followed by a innocent jingle and the violet conspirator turned her gaze to the culprit.

The hefty blade in Teratron's hand barely missed Coldshock's nose and the youngling hurriedly scampered to his mother's side, dodging the angry claws between his sister's legs. Starscream abandoned all senses at the sight of her son, scrambling to reach the safety of her wings and Lightburst capitalising on the initial confusion. Leaping straight at their adversary's face, the Cassetticon charged her body to a blinding white and sent forth a dazzling array of lights at Teratron's optic sensors.

"RUN!" cried the Cassetticon, who glowed a fluorescent pink from her pre-emptive strike. The red seeker didn't need to be told twice, kicking her violet daughter in mid-transformation while the smaller creations grabbed a wing each in their hands. The pinch from small fingers was the jet's cue to ignite a furious blast from her thrusters and they flew off, leaving Teratron to take another blind swing behind them. Despite the protruding miscellany along the tunnel walls, Starscream's superior flight instincts cut an uninhibited route, narrowly avoiding the extended waste littering the passageway.

"Moth-! MOTHER! Moth-_ukh_-er-_khh_-!" screamed Lightburst, choking at the pollution forcing its way down her windpipe. Minutes felt like mere seconds as the red jet continued to accelerate and Lightburst had to remind her to slow down, lest Starscream's creations lose their grip. Coldshock could only hide his optics and tighten his aching palms, clinging on for dear life.

" SLOW DOWN, YOU'RE GOING TOO FAST_-STOP! STOP! STO-----P!_" Her daughter's words were almost inaudible against the wind, but Starscream could hear her faint mutterings and impulsively brought herself back to root mode. Swiping her children into a protective hug, the elder female swung her feet in front of herself and activated her turbo jets, efficiently decelerating to a full stop. Starscream looked down to check her creations' well-being and after experiencing her professional recklessness, they were physically intact, if not frightened into balls of quivering limbs; Coldshock was quite speechless for once.

"Coldshock, Lightburst, are you all right?!" Starscream exclaimed and the younger femme con shot a startled look at her sibling. The seeker quickly turned her attention to her son, stunned into silence save for his internal systems emitting an awkward croon. "Coldshock, Coldshock..._COLDSHOCK!__"_

"_Hkh-! _...Uh, uh...UAAAAAAHHH!" the youngling burbled before he started wailing and rained tears down his mother's arm. Decepticon or not, Starscream was a creator and cradled their heads, cooing soft words into their audio processors as she placed their tiny feet to the ground.

"Don't be scared, darling, shush, shush..." Starscream spoke her softest, wiping the tears away from Coldshock's face. "I didn't mean to fly so fast and scare you..."

The duo held their mother tighter, Coldshock wetting his face onto her neck and Lightburst recovering from her brother's outcry. Standing to attention, Starscream scrutinised the dark tunnel she had just flown through and knew that despite her speedy retreat, Teratron would meet them shortly.

"We have to get out," said Starscream, contemplating their escape as she cradled her son, tenderly stroking his head. "And I have to stop Teratron, but if you two aren't out of harm's way, who knows what desperate measures she'll take."

"(Maybe the escape route-? No...)" the Cassetticon mumbled, but her words did not go unnoticed by Starscream. "What was that?"

"Um, well...Teratron, kinda has an escape route," quibbled Lightburst. "She studied the layout of the underground tunnels and planned a few routes based on the damage caused by the bombs."

"I presume you've used those routes to reach me, then?" the pink female nodded and the red jet perked up to the new information she had just heard. "How accurate are the plans?"

"(Let's see, went across there, and, ah-) ninety-eight point two...percent!" Lightburst felt her confidence rise to her chest, when she saw a sly smile cut across Starscream's face. "And-! And-! And I know where Teratron's stashed that thingy which is jamming our frequencies!"

Suddenly, a thick purple beam jabbed the air and lanced through the aerial commander's wing. Lightburst yipped as her creator kneeled over and passed the olive youngling to her daughter, who received him with open arms. Ominous growling could be heard, resonating against the rusty metal walls as a Cybertronian tank flattened the debris leading to the trio. Loose wires dangled from Starscream's wound, hissing and spitting with its owner in equal disdain.

"That slagging-!" the seeker femme clapped her jaws shut when her optics rested on her son and step-daughter, gawking at the damage; a dull pain resonated along her wing, but the wound itself was not fatal. Starscream quickly pressed her creations down with her own weight, when another stray shot flashed past their heads. Standing to full height, the seeker turned to face the threat approaching them, lumbering steadily towards them to deal their deaths. '_No more games, Teratron._'

"Lightburst, I want you to take Coldshock to the escape route," Starscream commanded the Cassetticon, when Coldshock interjected her order. "Mother-!"

"-_Don__'__t_ you start, Coldshock! Lightburst, take your brother and head to the exit-!" Starscream rebuked her son and pushed their heads down upon the next shot. "-Once you're outside, find our comrades and destroy that jamming device! I trust you'll know the way better, once you reach the surface."

"Mother..." Lightburst quivered, pointing at the same direction as the cannon fire. "The uh...the exit is that-a-way..."

"(Of course it is)," the red female muttered. Lowering her head, the aerial commander timed Teratron's reload time, stealthily waiting for the right moment. "Children, on the count of three, you jump onto my wings. One-"

"Huh?" Coldshock twitched at the next pot shot. "Two..."

"Hold on, little bro-!" Coldshock had no chance to ask, when Starscream contorted into her alternate mode and Lightburst yanked her brother from the damp ground. Unthinkingly following Lightburst's actions, the youngling clawed his fingers around Starscream's wing and clenched his teeth, leaving his feet to be thrown wildly between the sharp turns and rolls the F-15 was making. Incoming laser fire grew larger and dangerously accurate with each approaching second, until the last shot pierced the tunnel ceiling and rained soot onto the charging seeker. Fierce hands tore through the smudge and grabbed Starscream's wings, twisting them in its grip as the metal screeched in protest and the femme con transformed to meet her adversary. Not forgetting her passengers, the red seeker threw them in mid-transformation at the desired direction and the duo rushed themselves away from the fight.

"SCRAMBLE-AUKH!" Starscream shrieked and her face met the ground, courtesy of Teratron's foot. Purple claws reached for Coldshock, but Teratron's hands raked the air when Lightburst snatched him first and hurried them both to the exit. Teratron gnashed her teeth and turned around, only to take a solid punch in the face. The tank Transformer grabbed Starscream's blasters and wrenched one out of its socket, giving its twin a chance to fire a burst shot into her midriff. After a desperate tussle of weapons, both females leapt back to draw space between each other. Teratron congratulated herself quietly at the damage her mother sustained, noting the wing joint crying in feeble clicks. Starscream herself nodded to her daughter's wound, despite the purple female's false posture of confidence.

"Accept your fate, mother," goaded Teratron. "I would have made it painless for the both of you. As for our Lord Megatron, he had no choice in the matter. He was offline before I reached him-"

"**LIAR!**" A white flash ran across Starscream's optics and Teratron's blade just missed the seeker's head, slicing her rifle into halves. Even if the red femme con caught the blade with her hands, Teratron's raw strength could bring the scimitar through its target.

"When I found our lord, he was crushed underneath some wreckage," Teratron mentioned. "I checked for vitals."

"No..." Starscream balled her fists. '_This is just a trick!_'

"Do you take me for a fool, child?! Like I would believe such ridiculousdrivel, just so you can cut me into symmetries? Megatron cannot be killed by mere, mere...RUBBISH!"

"Lord Megatron may be apinnacle of power, but his mortality is purely exaggerated," Teratron stated. "I reached for him and asked him of his well-being, but all I did was pull out a dead mech and spoke to his corpse."

"...You are a widow now." The aerial commander's face was a blank slate, more confused than insulted by the hurtful words her daughter just said to her. "...Turn your optics off, I can help you join him."

The red seeker's wings started to tremble harder, rattling the stray wires hanging from her injury, as her optics grew round and her physical circuitry tensed into knots. Starscream dropped her jaw in outcry, but no words of protest nor reason manifested, except for a small whimper and she could not recognise her own voice anymore.

"...My...my lord...my lord, Megatron..." Starscream's words clicked with her shivering jaw, and the bereaved pressed her palms to the wet floor. "No, no, no, no, Megatron, Megatron (Megatr...on...)"

Treading with deadly elegance to her prey, the purple femme con approached her sobbing creator in careful silence, clutching her still blade at optic level. A throaty cough halted her daughter's pace, when the seeker femme cleared her vocal chords and Starscream heard a crackled voice, calling for her through her internal communicator.

'_M-kkkkkkt-other, moth-kkkkcthkkk-er, can you hear me? Can you hear me? We__'__re safe! The device has been disarmed! Mother?_'

'_Lady_ _Starscream, this is Thundercracker speaking, can you hear us? We__'__ve dispatched troops to your location__…__trying to locate Lord Megatron__'__s signal-! Skywarp, what are you doing, get out of my way-!__'_

'_Yo, __'__Screamerrrrr! You okay, sexy? Just stay put, __'__kay-? What? Oh yeah, well YOU can suck on this, TC! Ow! Slag, __'__con, I was just joking-!_'

Teratron held her stance as Starscream rose her head, acknowledging the bleak surroundings amidst her comrade's petty squabbling. A new reel of emotions breathed strange hope into the red femme, even when she received the news of her partner's death, and Starscream's chances of ending her daughter's murderous intentions became concrete.

'_I__'__m your queen__…__you silly twit,_' The seeker femme mumbled to her witless wingmate and avoided Teratron's attack at the same time, letting the blade swipe the air above her helmet. Creations of their lord Megatron or not, Starscream was the fastest seeker among the Decepticon ranks and turned Teratron's swings to misses, mocking her creation efforts in the process.

'_E.t.a. to my position, Thundercracker?_' Starscream spotted Teratron's agitation in her attacks, but kept a dead panned face in light of Megatron's status. '_The Constructicons are digging a safe route! It might take a while, but we__'__ll gonna get you! Starscream do you know where Megatron is?! Teratron-!_'

Starscream ended all communications with her comrades, when the sabre she was trying to avoid sliced through her other wing. The next deadly swing that flew at Starscream's head ceased, as the seeker shot the offending blade out of her daughter's hand and caught her wrists. The passion to destroy her creator's spark, burned even fiercer in the younger Starscream, but she wasn't completely assured of her success during their tussling. This unwanted feeling came about when she saw Starscream's lopsided grin, carved across her face like a nauseating omen, and Teratron learnt to hate her mother's confidence.

'_Is he alive__…__?_' Starscream thought with a smile, glazed across her face. Teratron would have none of her illogical nonsense. "Join him…!"

'_Or is he dead?_

"Don't fight me, mother…"

'_I don__'__t care__…__I don__'__t care, I don__'__t care, I don__'__t care-_'

"I don't care if he's alive or OFF-_LINE!!!_" Starscream snarled and threw her weight onto her daughter, but her renewed vigour was futile. Not only was her creation now standing above her supine creator, a new blade had been retrieved from her leg compartment, casually hovering above the seeker's neck; it was Teratron's turn to smile now, but her trepidation would not wane.

"Again. Any last words, mother?" Teratron watched her creator's optics follow the scimitar's path, tracing the river of fuel lines along her neck. Starscream's grin became twisted and obnoxious, spilling with gung-ho confidence and the seeker stabbed her daughter with a piercing glare. "Haven't you noticed?"

"What?" Teratron asked.

"The grounds awfully shaky."

Blade meets wing, as Starscream turned her body to capture the blade from its master and slammed her back to the floor, successfully stealing the purple femme con's weapon. Cluster bombs belonging to the red femme launch themselves from her chest compartment, tearing anything it touches with wrathful violence. Teratron shrieks at the surprise attack searing her face, while the other offending grenades destroy the surrounding are. Having disturbed the tunnel walls, Starscream deftly rolls aside as the pipes wrench and split above and below the purple Decepticon, before swallowing the aggressive femme into itself.

Watching her daughter fall into the abyss, Starscream offers herself a wider smile at her accomplishment. Knowing Teratron's iron hide build, her creation would be able to sustain life after the fall (unless the fates were devotedly against them), but Starscream thought otherwise and took that risk. Unfortunately, her grenades worked too well and another rumble told her too late, that she was to follow her creation down below. Blue hands clawed in desperation for steady ground, but it only brought more debris raining down on the seeker. Following her creation's actions mere seconds ago, Starscream let loose her thrusters to head for clear space, but unlike Teratron, she jetted straight into a thick slab of falling concrete and continued her descent in an unconscious state.

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"Did you find her yet?" asked Skywarp for the nth time and Thundercracker answered on cue. "Shut up, 'Warp."

"Well, sorry for asking where our SUPREME QUEEN OF THE DECEPTICONS IS!!!" scolded Skywarp, but his azure wingmate was too busy nursing several tracking processors used to locate their lord. It didn't help that he had to squat to view them, as they were built for cassetticon use and their leading communications officer, Soundwave was missing and presumed offline. "Only when we need him, is that glitch head gone!"

"What about Starscream-!" demanded Skywarp and Thundercracker snapped back at his comrade's incessant nagging. "We've already FOUND her position!"

"Her _approximate_ position!" the blue seeker leaned back for all to view his frustration. "'Warp, what did I tell you about using big words?"

"Frag you, you fragging slag face."

"Frag yourself, microchip. The Constructicons are already creating a secure exit route so the whole foundation doesn't collapse on the survivors, so what else more do you want?" said Thundercracker, silencing his wingmate's niggling at the same time. "And have you forgotten? Megatron's missing too. Hopefully, Starscream knows of our lord's whereabouts."

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_I'm not dead. I know that, because the first time I felt like this, I was only missing a few fingers…and a leg, both wings, one grill and half my torso. So, no, I am not dead. Just…can't lift my hand. My left vision's a wreck and…ah! A boulder has conveniently placed itself over my arm! Fantastic. Teratron…_Teratron?!_ 'Nailed by a very large piece of…what is that? Nevermind. Good. No, wait, that's not good! Is she-?! Only in stasis lock. Good, good…she should still be alive when we make our way out of this. My lord, Megatron, he is not dead. No, no, no...how do I know? Because I have tried to kill him several times and I'm not the only one. Tying myself to him has only made me a target, but he can't die, he won't! 'Must get myself out of this-_

"FRAG-_AHHH!!!_" Starscream cursed as she tore her limb from the boulder and rocked herself to the pain. Hissing and growling to her shredded palm, the red seeker muted her voice lest her daughter would wake up and continue the fight. Despite the unsightly dents and scoured paint, Starscream's arm was in working condition, confidently pulling Teratron's discarded blade from some collected debris.

Scanning her surroundings, Megatron's queen had noticed that she and her daughter had fallen into a deep, vertical drainpipe and started searching for an alternate route to escape the rusted well. Small beams of light pierced the darkness, as Starscream scrutinised the rubbish that formed a misshapen wall and spotted a potential escape route. Using the sword unceremoniously as a shovel, she started digging through the brittle wall, inviting more light into the tunnel, until the supposed dead-end collapsed to expose the symmetrical end of the tunnel. The seeker's optics shone keenly at the thought of an escape path and turned to carry her incapacitated daughter through, when the faint glow from the barrel of a blaster diverted her attention to Teratron's hand.

"Daughter, for the last time…" Starscream checked the gun in her assassin's hands and chucked the energon blade to one side. "Don't do it."

"Accept your death…like a Decep-cep-cepticon…mother," Teratron crackled her death threats. "Father is-s…dead and s-so s-s-should you be…I will rule…and you will die…"

"Couldn't you wait your turn?! If you do this, your father will never forgive you! I spent many millennia trying to usurp his throne-…do you think it would take mere _astroseconds_ to do the same?!" Starscream swallowed the humid air. "And he's **not** DEAD!"

"Prove…it…" Starscream's creation aimed the offending gun at her head, as an eerie howl crept through the wind. Stray debris rattled through the vents with the wind, singing an ominous dirge for the seeker. Just then, a gravely voice broke their silence and gave Teratron her answer. "Gladly."

"MEGATRON-!" Starscream turned to greet her leader, when two violet beams took their course between her. She shrieked at the new hole in her wing, courtesy of her lord, but it did not miss its intended target and another yelp arrested their attention to the purple female, now kneeling on the rubbish they were standing on. Smoke slithered from Teratron's exposed spark chamber, which housed a frantic soul beating to the peril it's owner was to face.

A tang of dread rippled through the red seeker, with voiceless pleas for their creation, as her lord shook his battered, fusion cannon in mild frustration. Separating the defunct weapon from his arm, Megatron stomped to his intended target and grunted a command to his aerial commander, but she couldn't hear as her mind reeled from mental disarray.

Slim hands reached for the tyrant's worn chest and the latter shrugged her off like a small nuisance. Maternal instincts turned a blind eye to danger and the red seeker hastily shielded her creation from their master, but he would not tolerate any resistance and forced Starscream on her rump.

A deafening screech of horror signalled Teratron's demise, when the silver mech forced his leg onto her trembling spark. Starscream's voice returned too late, as Megatron stomped viciously on his daughter's life-force, forcing her into non-existence. Her mother cried relentlessly for ultimate clemency, while Teratron laid speechless with her mouth agape, spewing energon that was being forced out of her body, as her father robbed her of her life.

Teratron could not hear her mother's choking sobs anymore. Panting tiredly to himself, Megatron could feel his joints ache painfully from exhausting his low fuel reserves. Scraping his heel against the shell of his creation, the mech basked in satisfaction over the late threat, but gloated too soon when he turned to meet a barrage of cluster bombs.

It only took Megatron one astrosecond to destroy a Transformer, but it was Teratron's corpse that would ignite the unseen wrath of his queen.

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A/N: (I wrote that) Teratron aimed at Starscream's head instead of her chest, because Starscream has a better chance of dodging the bullet at close range! But Teratron's more of a blade-than-blaster female anyway.


	20. Chapter 19: Queen of Chaos

**Chapter 19: Queen of Chaos**

A/N: Mozart: Requiem in D Minor: Lacrimosa

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Torn strips of violet cloth billowed in the heat of the flames, as the stray ends whipped the drifting flakes of ash. Armed with Teratron's blaster in her hand, the Decepticon queen stood amidst the raging fire. Although her supply of bombs had been exhausted, her daughter's extinction made Starscream a dangerous adversary. Megatron had to pay the penalty and she was ready to deal his well-deserved punishment.

There was nothing on her mind; except to raise her gun at the silver mech, who mimicked her with his own arm cannon. Unfortunately, Megatron's weapon was spent and had exploded upon use, rendering his damaged arm a dead weight. It was foolish to tackle the ex-gladiator and exchange blows, even in his damaged state, but Starscream snatched the rare opportunity and lunged first into his abdomen; she needed to feel her husband beneath her palms, to have and to hold and destroy him into pieces of scrap.

The Decepticon leader swiftly seized her wrist in a vice-like grip and forcibly yanked her to full standing height. He deftly snaked his leg behind her thigh and tried to fold her into a kneeling position, but the seeker's violent writhing caused them both to collapse gracelessly to the ground. Darting optics searched keenly for the handgun, while his mate thrashed furiously under his weight like a bagged wolverine, wailing between kicks and claws to his battered frame. Spying the firearm out of their reach, Megatron snarled when Starscream bought her silence by biting into the wirings of his neck. Razor-sharp fingers raked themselves across his chiselled face and the aspen mech stumbled back from the persistent abuse, lest he loses his sight.

He shouted for reason and demanded his queen to settle herself, but he only found the white-hot glow of wrath seared through her lenses. Starscream had already forgotten the blaster, but continued her reckless clawing at her leader's midriff, all the while crying a frenetic dirge, curdled with sorrow and grief. Megatron also spared no quarter with his mate and chanced upon an opening in her rampant swings; suddenly, Starscream found herself tumbling across dirt and fire, lashed and scalded by the serrated refuse. With the blaster kept in mind, Megatron extended his remaining arm only to reach for thin air, before a great pain rippled from his exposed arm joint to his entire mainframe.

The white tyrant keeled from a calculated shot, from the blaster he was supposed to retrieve. In her blind savagery, Starscream still managed to summon her impertinence and delivered a round-house kick to Megatron's face, continuing her fist-and-clawed onslaught until they both reached the end of the tunnel. A few more shots from the blaster brought Megatron staggering to a dead end, with scattered waste at his feet and his own energon sprayed across the wall.

A steady chime shivered across the tunnels, created by a dirty pair of delicate, blue feet that lumbered through the black detritus cemented along the passageways. Singed fibres rippled from the shoulders of a broken silhouette, as the sinewy figure tore through each curtain of smog. The surrounding heat reflected against her lithe stature, flushed with a rose-coloured hue, as the stray ash fluttered whimsically in the air. Copious tears traced her weathered face and contoured her expression of incurable sadness; with his twisted brand of sadism, Megatron forced a smile on his tired face.

"Are you going to finish it, then?"

Starscream cut her tears with a blink, but the aim of the blaster was persistent. She stared blankly at her lord, who sat against the curved wall.

"(Khk-)...'Finish what Teratron started and take credit for her treachery?"

A dry, sober comment interrupted the seeker's mindset and she couldn't help but pull a lopsided smile. A forced chuckle escaped the red femme, before she lurched forward and cackled with manic glee at her ankles, until her whole body shook from laughter and fatigue. Both Transformers laughed in awkward unison, until the femme con interrupted their chortles with an ear-piercing screech and shot another bullet into her partner's arm. The tyrant wheezed through clenched teeth and spat blue energon onto his chest plate; despite its innocent hue, Megatron was alarmed at his own energon, which dribbled onto his broad chest.

He was growing weak.

Starscream swallowed a throaty hiccup and her armed hand rattled nervously. Sorrow and confusion mixed with sour tears, as her mind ran through fleeting thoughts in search for a logical solution. Noting her solemn distress, Megatron hoped that he could soothe the raging behemoth inside her, in spite of his senses swimming in turbulence.

"My aerial commander, my comet in battle, (my eternal companion...)" His voice grew to a murmur and Starscream watched her leader mumble to himself. "(My manna in the Inferno, my queen of chaos...)"

"(I don't like losing things...)" she whispered in reply, "(And flattery won't get you anywhere). Neither could hear each other's hushed sentiments in the sea of flames and its voice of protest. "(You didn't have to kill her, you-!) ...You didn't have to kill _our_ DAUGHTER!!!"

"We-_hkh_-we have just been wed, and-_hrkh_-!" the aspen mech spoke between hacked mouthfuls of energon and paused to allow his system to recover slightly. "And Teratron...betrayed us. We-...I had to. It was too calculated, she must have planned this in advance-"

"Don't buy yourself excuses, Megatron..." Starscream started treading dangerously towards her lord. "You didn't-...we-...(it shouldn't be like this!)"

"And you would die for her-?" the offending handgun struck Megatron's jaw, but he would rather have been slapped by the blaster than a sky-blue foot. "She didn't have to die! No one does! _**NO **__ONE---!!!_"

"(No one...)" The seeker sighed and crumpled to the floor in spasms. Sobbing from her primal howl, the femme con shakily recovered her posture and her aim, much to her target's disappointment. "(No one..._except_...)"

"You've just lost a daughter," the aerial commander halted her gait and studied Megatron's broad carriage, as it gently rose and fell with his words; even in his exhausted state, the gunformer still carried his proud bearing. "How much more are you willing to lose, Starscream? ...How much more are you going to sacrifice, just for this moment!"

"You are my queen, not my widow-" the Decepticon lord paused in mid-speech and followed her pewter knees straddling his waist, as her hips slid seductively over his mien and her thighs brushed perversely against his scarred legs. Megatron clicked his jaws shut at the barrel of the gun, forced below his chin. Their systems churned in dysfunctional harmony, inhaling each others' scent of charred metal and burnt energon. Both crowns belonging to the Decepticon sovereigns, met once more amidst the chaotic apocalypse.

"(Why don't you fight back...?)" she whispered, her gaze affixed to his in deadly contemplation. "Have you gotten weak? Are you not afraid of death?"

Megatron felt the barrel of the gun dig deeper into his wiring and his internal systems stuttered in protest. The mech simply shrugged weakly in reply. "Death, is my slave, as I am it's master."

"...Do you not want to see your beloved Cybertron, moulded to your totalitarian desires? Your troops rise above the corpses of our enemies?" After her violent fits, Starscream seemed to have recovered her manner, but only at face value. She curled her lips to a distorted grin, in spite of her shuddering frame, wracked with consternation. "What are you waiting for, _Lord_ Megatron?"

What are you waiting for?

Between her acidic words drizzled in bitter sarcasm, he saw it in her. Past her trembling optics darting for an unspoken answer, the ashen mech found a small, sombre, desperate plea for his disapproval. Maybe she wanted to hear him censure her actions, so her internal tumult of emotions will cease to exist, but she was anything but vulnerable. To even hint at that sentiment would be too easy for the seeker to solve her problems, or rouse her anger to greater passion. Her treachery was an old habit both machines were used to and yet, she needed him to follow its course.

She tested him again.

As her mate, her husband and her lord, Starscream wanted Megatron's full support. After all, the gun is already stretching the circuits underneath his chin. It was the femme con's way of sharing her thoughts with him, whether he approves of their conflicts or otherwise. Teratron did not need to die to bring Starscream to this conclusion. Her death would not have deviated her creators from this quandary and Megatron was uncomfortably familiar with this situation.

Would the weakened tyrant be so generous to his consort and let her have her way?

"There will be others who would follow your lead in treachery, but you know that already," he reminded her, his words mixed with hacked energon. "A natural death is rare, for one such as myself and it wouldn't be surprising if I died by your hands. Even when my spark is extinguished, I will still live on in memory. If I am to leave this universe today, you will be by my side and the future shielded beneath capable wings. That is why I married you."

"Buying time, my lord?" her voice curled to a strange pitch, partly due to confusion in hearing such pleasantries from Megatron.

"What are _**you **_waiting for?" he grunted in reply. "Squeeze the trigger...if you _dare_ to..."

An audible hum seconded his opinion and a soft violet glow lit their faces.

"Resign yourself to the fate I've given you," she brought their lips to a breath's width, letting the heat of the flames lick their faces. "Die, for my love for my children, my kingdom...and most importantly, for myself. (All hail, Lord Megatron...)"

The last thing he cared to remember about this day or this breem, was her lingering whispers, as the chill of her lips warmed his own and he heard a modest click from the blaster's trigger.

And another click. And another. And another and another. Not only death, but chance and fortune, was Megatron's slave.

The tired mech focused his cracked, hazy vision on his queen, who shook the blaster in her hands, desperate for a conclusion. When it still refused to work, she howled a foul string of Cybertronian and hurled the weapon aside; the gun abruptly misfired and launched its last shot into the flames.

The couple exchanged stupefied glances, until the femme con choked and her leader sighed, from relief and exhaustion of this ordeal. Faint calls from the troops could be heard, echoing down the tunnel they rested in. Their rescue started out as a small drizzle, followed by a delicate shower of water, which doused the fire surrounding their overheated bodies.

Starscream shivered, when a black, chiselled hand reached for her neck. Rough fingers withdrew from the safety of his palm and Megatron, with unfound gentleness, stroked her face, tracing the tears that ran down her smooth countenance. Shaking hands rested on his scoured chest, before Starscream balled them into fists and started banging them. She hung her head, mumbling and whimpering incoherently as she rapped her helmet against his shoulder to match the rhythm of her fists.

The same hand that caressed Starscream's face rested on her weary back, following the uneven curves and broken contours as far as it could reach. The femme con suppressed her pitiable wails to quiet sobs, when she felt a small weight at the back of her head and heard her creation's murderer, crooning softly into her audio sensors. Instinctively, Starscream spoke words that both Decepticons were accustomed to.

"...(F-)...(Forgive me)...L-Lord...Megatron-"

Her marriage and coronation, Teratron's betrayal, death and a failed attempt at justifiable vengeance, was enough to tear Starscream's spark into atoms. However, with the advantage turned against her, could she afford Megatron's leniency, or would he damn her to the fate she deserved? Two words were enough to soothe their unsettled emotions.

"(....Why not?)"

Those half-mumbled, half-sighed words were her latest boon, that calmed her senses, although her leader was hoping that the strength of his words would prevent him from falling into stasis lock; his paltry attempt failed.

Both lord and lady held their silence for the rest of the day.

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A/N: To everyone (and I mean, EVERYONE) who's waited for this chapter and is exhausted of all patience...please, don't, lynch me! (I forgot I've finished and proofread this chapter-) *Ducks* As for my very casual pace in finishing this story, I have RL work and prefer to take my time, instead of rushing my thoughts and running in circles. Thanks to everyone who's kind and patient enough to spot the reoccurring mistakes I've made! :P

It's quite strange describing Transformer tears according to our senses, but I presume they would either be salty, sour, acidic(!) or smell like alcohol. I think their water's imported, and the only rain I know they have is acid rain, ouch! o_0


	21. Epilogue: Legacy of Kings

**Epilogue: Legacy of Kings**

Maybe it was absolute bedlam that wrought their choices that day. Or did their nuptial union grant her leniency from her lord? It might be possible that Megatron gave small pockets of mercy to the lucky few, as long as it was out of public eye. Perhaps, between her dementia, the tyrant saw a semblance of subservience in his queen. Was it hope, that his mate would one day serve him with genuine loyally? Selflessness even?

She couldn't find any conclusion to her thoughts that day, being lost, beaten and mentally shredded during the carnage. As for her selflessness, today might be enough proof. Decked in her royal apparel, Starscream planned to practice her usual sarcasm, not only to chisel a scowl on her partner's face, but to distract herself from the orderly masses, stationed below the tower that her royal posterior is roosted in. Waves of proud Decepticons flooded the scenery beyond the horizon, but their queen was more focused on a lone mech amidst the crowd. Even without an elevated platform, the dark general stood out among the rest, his poise professionally still, his optics keen for future conquests and his spark emblazoned as a staunch Decepticon.

The weight of fulfilling his father's expectations had been quelled vorns ago and no one called Gigatron by his birth name, except those closest to him and any other Transformer who needed an immediate death wish. To Starscream, he will always be Coldshock, the happy-go-lucky creation who took all manner of maltreatment to meet his father's standards. Megatron could not be disappointed, especially when his son's infancy bought Optimus Prime's trust and in later cycles, his doom. Was the dictator envious of his child's achievement at crippling his arch foe? Starscream sensed a tiny semblance of animosity towards the subject, but stayed her tongue...with a cocky smirk.

'_Mother, is there something on my head?_'

The she-con whipped her mind to her son's question, sent through their personal communication link.

'_Did something fly by and take a massive dump on my helmet? You've been staring at my dome for the past breem, ma, seriously...(is it _THAT_ bad?)_'

Starscream chuckled at his crude intercom. Even when Coldshock/Gigatron inherited his father's permanent glare, her creation had a cheeky sense of humour. '_Child, this is Cybertron, there are no organic birds here-_'

'_Was it Buzzsaw? That little pecker stole my energon snacks._'

'_No, he's in Beacon Tassad-10._'

'_Mother?_'

She sighed to herself. '..._Yes?_'

'_I love youuuuuuuuuuu~_'

'_...Yes...yes you do, (Coldshock)..._'

'_Do you know how much I love you?_'

'_By the Inferno-_'

'_I love you so super-duper much, I'd liquidise both moons!_'

'_Good-__**bye**__, Coldshock._'

'_Kissies! Muah-!_'

The red seeker quietly pondered Gigatron's sober face during that conversation and decided to busy herself with something else instead. Having caught her own reflection in a mirror, the femme con started to search for any imperfections in her spotless regalia. The sudden entrance of her youngest creations threatened her personal upkeep, as they ran in circles around her creaseless mantle, crying to spill each other's energon; Thundercracker and Skywarp shortly followed suit, trying to catch her twins in vain. The charade finally stopped when Starscream swiped them from the floor and into her troops' arms.

"All I asked is for **you **two to watch them for THREE _breems_!" Starscream chided, ignoring her indigo creations pulling faces at her wingmates.

"Sorry Starscream, we-yahAAA**AARHHH!**" cried Thundercracker, when the naughtier twin decided to test his teeth on the blue seeker's hand. A steely look from their mother ended the younglings behaviour, who hid behind the ruffled mechs like startled insects, trying to escape her glowering optics. The group created a mosaic with their stillness, until their queen thought her creations were going to behave appropriately. Her cloak glided as she turned to face the balcony, which Megatron was to address the crowd from and checked her children again.

"Behave, or _I _won't be the one punishing YOU," she hissed at her children and gave her wingmates a look of disappointment. "Where is Megatron? He's suppose to be here by now!"

"Soundwave's running through some last minute stuff with him, 'Screamer," said Skywarp. Starscream switched her optics to the blue seeker and he continued the sentence. "Social slash political things...he'll be here in less than an astrosecond. Don't worry about the crowd, it isn't your first time anyway!"

"Address me by my proper title and don't call me 'Screamer when Megatron is around," she reminded the duo. "Although, I don't mind the old moniker."

The twins knew their mother's wrath was averted, when her knees gently touched the ground and the sparklings hopped into her embrace. She cupped their heads in her palms and brought them closer to receive a small peck each. "(Behave, and your father will be very pleased with you both!)"

The youngsters nodded in reply and replaced their usual demeanour with a strong stance, after they sucker punched one another. The Decepticon queen raised herself to her full height, just as her husband entered the room and her wingmates made their subtle exit. The ruby jewel on his crown captured his queen's reflection, as Megatron made his way to the waiting seeker.

"Welcome, my superbly _grand _and GLORIOUS leader, Megatron!" Starscream purred into his neck and glided her fingers across his broad chest.

"(Cut the slag)," he growled in reply. The couple smiled at the shared joke while Starscream arranged her husband's spaulders, so that they sat in perfect symmetry on his shoulders.

"Are you nervous?" Megatron asked, as his optics followed her adroit fingers, stroking any impurities out of his cloak.

"You wish!" she laughed. "Gigatron's in place and the twins (as you can see), are _not _flying off the walls. Well? Aren't you proud of them?"

"I can't say I'm not," Megatron squinted when he saw one of the twins store away an energon slingshot. The female seeker firmly tugged at the ends of her mate's cloak and leaned into him. "Why don't you just say yes, you big hunk of handsome metal!"

"Starscream, I know it's very, VERY hard for you and many other females to resist me, but right now, you'll just have to try your best!"

"(You're so full of it!)" she scrunched her face at him and he pulled his in false surprise. "The crowd is waiting for you."

She inhaled deeply and held her youngling's tiny hands, when her lord made deep strides to the balcony. Soon, the masses cheered his name and the scarlet female stretched her lips to a cheeky grin; Megatron was so used to their song and praise, his nonchalance could be mistaken for boredom. Of course, this was only her scant opinion, as she belonged to the supposedly 'meagre' opposite of the Decepticon mechs. The simple-minded majority revered him in blind admiration and she could understand their reasons, even if they reeked of stupidity. He was as charming as they come, which was an aspect his son inherited, learnt and adopted in his roguish youth.

Even she was convinced of his greatness the first time they met, all nervous and bashful in a finger-twining manner, that the femme con was niggled by her past reactions; did she carry her gullibility to the present and would jump through hoops for him? Starscream shook her head to herself. _Never!_ At least, not until he offered a good incentive for her to make a leap.

An odd ululation stole Starscream from her musings and she tuned her audio receptors to the noise outside. The chant, 'All hail Megatron!' sounded distorted in one half of the crowd. Her leader looked equally puzzled at the garbled cry, until the words became ominously transparent.

_All hail Megatron! All hail Megatron! All hail Gigatron!_

"Starscream, are you hearing this?"

_ALL HAIL GIGATRON!_

"WHAT'S GOING ON?"

"I-! I don't know, Megatron!"

_DECEPTICONS! The civil war has almost past, and now, the TRUE race of Cybertron shall conquer all those who don't share our proud name! It is time for a new change! A NEW rule! A **NEW **LEADER!_

"Soundwave, prepare for battle, Code: Zero Infinity!"

_Megatron's time is over! As he chose to take the mantle of leadership, he should know what's coming for him! THAT, is the legacy of kings and tyrants alike, who fail to reach their zenith!_

'_Negative._'

"**WHAT?**"

'_Soundwave faction alignment: Decepticon leader, Gigatron._'

_Decepticons, you have fought long and hard, just to satisfy the wishes of ONE mech! But, I-! __**I **__will give you what you _REALLY _want!_

"Starscream, take our '_loyal_' creations to a safe place!"

_Those who cooperate will be spared their fate!_

"I will deal with this fool's heresy!"

Like many cycles before, it happened once more. The iron walls crumbled before her, as the immovable monuments of Cybertron were torn from the very ground that birthed them. She heard a black cannon growl in anticipation of the upcoming battle and the heavy stomps of a combat-ready mech, who exited the room in anger and haste. It was like the day she wed her master and became his equal. When chaos erupted from false tranquillity and swallowed them whole. Save for one exception:

Today, Starscream was well aware of her son's plans.

Today was similar to some other days, where she single-handedly brought down Megatron's painstaking strategies, whether it was to destroy Earth, dominate Cybertron or both. As the jittering twins clasped their mother, frightened out of their body shells, she stroked them with eerily, calm hands and carried their weight in each arm.

"(Don't cry, my darlings,)" she whispered as two pairs of optics darted at her, alarmed and perplexed by her composed tone of voice. Her confident smile held no sincerity, as they were surrounded by mayhem. The younglings felt a chill arrest their systems and soon realised, they were scared of their own mother.

"Everything's going to be all right...trust me."

* * *

A/N: I'd like to thank everyone for reading, supporting, reviewing and giving critiques for this fanfic! I hope you guys and gals enjoyed my puny attempts at writing. I know the endings got a predictable twist (amateur writers, the lot of them!) But I guess Starscream's always been a scheming, dastardly, ambiguously homosexual non-human! (Hurh?) Anyway, thank you very much again!

For those who continued reading from the first fanfic, I hoped you've enjoyed it to the end! If you're wondering why I took so long to reply, blame 'fanfictiondotnet' for screwing up my account! ;P


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